Growth of Defence Businesses
In 1989, Salteri and Belgiorno-Nettis stood down as joint managing directors in 1989 in favour of their eldest sons, Paul Salteri and Marco Belgiorno-Zegna. However, in a dispute between Salteri and Belgiorno-Nettis in 1995, the differences between the two families became irreconcillable and Transfield, then valued at A$733.2 million was split in two. The Belgiorno-Nettis family kept the name Transfield and the construction side of the business, while the Salteri family got the company's North Sydney headquarters and the defence operations, which they then renamed as Tenix.
The defence contracting arm of the business was called Tenix Defence Systems when Tenix was launched in November 1997, and then became Tenix Defence. Tenix expanded afterwards with the acquisition of Hawker de Havilland (an aerostructures manufacturer) in 1998 and leading engineering and maintenance contractor, Enetech, in December 1999. Enetech was renamed Tenix Alliance in July 2001. In June 2000, Tenix finalised the purchase of Vision System's defence businesses, Vision Abell and LADS Corporation; which became part of Tenix Defence. Late in 2000, Tenix sold Hawker de Havilland to Boeing.
In January 2008, the Salteri family sold Tenix Defence to BAE Systems Australia for A$775 million. The sale required the approval of the Australian Government's Foreign Investment Review Board and Department of Defence. Despite the infrastructure arm of the group, Tenix Alliance, also being up for sale, the sale process was discontinued.
Another arm of non-core business, Tenix Aviation, formerly known as Rossair that offered a range of aircraft, propeller and component maintenance services to the aviation industry worldwide, was sold in December 2008 to TAE Australia. Meanwhile, Tenix LADS Corporation that undertook hydrographic projects for international oil and gas exploration companies and seismic survey organisations was sold to Dutch multinational Fugro six months later.
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