AUSTRALIA – Melbourne-based paper, packaging and recycling company, Visy has announced the acquisition of privately owned supplier and distributor Zenexus for an undisclosed fee.
Zenexus supplies and distributes moving and storage boxes, major brand hardware and retail products, counting household names such as Wrap & Move, RackIt and FlexiStorage among its product offerings.
The amount paid for Zenexus was not given, but Visy said it would add approximately A$170 million (US$112.72m) to annual revenues, with the business and all 160 staff at Zenexus to be migrated into the Visy Retail Services division.
Executive Chairman of Visy, Anthony Pratt, said: “The purchase will allow Visy to join our sister company Pratt Industries in the US with a dedicated, retail-facing business unit called Visy Retail Services.”
Following the acquisition, Zenexus’ brands will continue to be sold through Bunnings and Homebase with Zenexus’ managing director Rodney Sutton serving as the general manager of Visy Retail Services.
The acquisition comes after Visy invested A$2 billion (US$1.33bn) in new clean energy plants that will increase the recycled content of bottles and reduce overall water use.
In relation to this project, The Australian quoted Pratt as saying: “We have that mission that is aligned with and rooted to not only ecologically favorable things but is also consistent with cost reduction, which makes it sustainable, not just ecologically but economically.”
Visy has a workforce of more than 7,000 people and operates in more than 140 sites across Australia, with additional trading offices across Asia, Europe and the US.
Meanwhile in February this year, Visy announced plans to build a new glass recycling and manufacturing facility in Yatala, Queensland, Australia.
The company said that it will invest A$500 million (US$314m) in the plant, which will manufacture approximately one billion glass containers and jars a year.
The facility will also recycle glass enabling 40,000 tonnes (t) of glass or an equivalent of 200 million beer bottles to be diverted from landfill.
The ground-breaking for the manufacturing facility was held in October 2022. The plant is scheduled to commence operations in 2025.
The project is expected to create 600 jobs during construction and support 200 green-collar manufacturing jobs once operational, bringing Visy’s total workforce in Queensland to more than 1,000 people.
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