Tenix Pty Ltd
Encyclopedia
Tenix is a privately owned Australian company
involved in a range of infrastructure
maintenance and engineering
product
s and services to the utility
, transport
, mining and industrial
sectors in Australia, New Zealand
, the Pacific Islands
, and the United States
.
The antecedent company
Transfield
was established in 1956 by Carlo Salteri
and Franco Belgiorno-Nettis
. The company focused on engineering and infrastructure construction, and expanded into the naval shipbuilding industry in the 1980s (initially under the name AMECON, then Transfield Defence Systems). A 1995 dispute between the company's managing directors (the eldest sons of the two founders) led to Transfied being split in two; the Belgiorno-Nettis family kept the Transfield name and the construction side of the buisness, while the Salteri family retained the infrastructure, defence
, and technology
elements, which were relaunched in 1997 as several companies under the Tenix name.
Tenix Defence
grew to become one of Australia's largest locally-owned defence
and technology
contractor until 2008, when its defence assets were sold to BAE Systems Australia
. Tenix's infrastructure arm was not sold at this time, and is still operational as of 2011.
was founded by two Italian–born mechanical engineers, Carlo Salteri
and Franco Belgiorno-Nettis
. Together they built one of Australia's most successful companies focused on major engineering projects, such as bridges, tunnels, dams, hydro-electric and coal power stations, oil rigs, concert halls, sugar mills and power lines. Included in their list of major achievements are the construction of the Gateway Bridge
in Brisbane and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel
. By the early 1980s, Transfield had in excess of 3,000 employees and an annual turnover of A$
350 million; and within five years grew to the point of being the biggest engineering firm in south-east Asia.
The company acquired the Williamstown Dockyard
in Melbourne and, in 1989 after winning a A$6 billion contract to build ten Anzac class frigates
for the Australian and New Zealand governments, the largest defence company in Australia. When visiting Australia in 1986 Pope John Paul II toured the Transfield factory located at Seven Hills
.
First known as AMECON, then as Transfield Defence Systems, the company re-established a naval shipbuilding capability in Australia with the successful construction of two Adelaide class
frigates for the Royal Australian Navy
. It was later awarded the Anzac Ship Project contract, for 10 Anzac class
frigates: eight for the Royal Australian Navy and two for the Royal New Zealand Navy
.
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 aerostructure
s 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.
Tenix's affiliates include RLM Systems, Australian Marine Technologies, and the company that operates the Sydney Harbour Tunnel
, where Tenix holds a 25% interest until the operating contract expires in June 2023.
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
involved in a range of infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
maintenance and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
s and services to the utility
Public utility
A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies...
, transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
, mining and industrial
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
sectors in Australia, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The antecedent company
Antecedent
An antecedent is a preceding event, condition, cause, phrase, or word. It may refer to:* Antecedent moisture, a hydrologic term describing the relative wetness condition of a sewershed.* Antecedent , the first half of a hypothetical proposition....
Transfield
Transfield Services
Transfield Services Limited is an Australian publicly listed corporation providing operations and maintenance, asset management, project and capital management outsourcing and infrastructure development services to the resources and industrial, infrastructure services and property and facilities...
was established in 1956 by Carlo Salteri
Carlo Salteri
Carlo Salteri AC was a prominent Australian businessman, mechanical engineer, founder of Tenix and co-founder of Transfield.- Background and early years :...
and Franco Belgiorno-Nettis
Franco Belgiorno-Nettis
Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, AC was an Australian industrialist and patron of the arts. He founded the construction and engineering company Transfield and also helped establish the Biennale of Sydney....
. The company focused on engineering and infrastructure construction, and expanded into the naval shipbuilding industry in the 1980s (initially under the name AMECON, then Transfield Defence Systems). A 1995 dispute between the company's managing directors (the eldest sons of the two founders) led to Transfied being split in two; the Belgiorno-Nettis family kept the Transfield name and the construction side of the buisness, while the Salteri family retained the infrastructure, defence
Defense contractor
A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...
, and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
elements, which were relaunched in 1997 as several companies under the Tenix name.
Tenix Defence
Tenix Defence
Tenix Defence was Australia's largest defence contractor with core capabilities in Aerospace, Land, Marine and Electronic Systems applications. BAE Systems announced its intention to acquire the company from Tenix in January 2008 and the acquisition was completed in June 2008 for A$775 million...
grew to become one of Australia's largest locally-owned defence
Defense contractor
A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
contractor until 2008, when its defence assets were sold to BAE Systems Australia
BAE Systems Australia
BAE Systems Australia, a subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, is the largest defence contractor in Australia. It was formed by the merger of British Aerospace Australia and GEC-Marconi Systems and expanded by the acquisitions of Armor Holdings in 2007 and Tenix Defence in June 2008.-History:BAE Systems'...
. Tenix's infrastructure arm was not sold at this time, and is still operational as of 2011.
History
The origins of the Tenix Group commence in 1956 when TransfieldTransfield Services
Transfield Services Limited is an Australian publicly listed corporation providing operations and maintenance, asset management, project and capital management outsourcing and infrastructure development services to the resources and industrial, infrastructure services and property and facilities...
was founded by two Italian–born mechanical engineers, Carlo Salteri
Carlo Salteri
Carlo Salteri AC was a prominent Australian businessman, mechanical engineer, founder of Tenix and co-founder of Transfield.- Background and early years :...
and Franco Belgiorno-Nettis
Franco Belgiorno-Nettis
Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, AC was an Australian industrialist and patron of the arts. He founded the construction and engineering company Transfield and also helped establish the Biennale of Sydney....
. Together they built one of Australia's most successful companies focused on major engineering projects, such as bridges, tunnels, dams, hydro-electric and coal power stations, oil rigs, concert halls, sugar mills and power lines. Included in their list of major achievements are the construction of the Gateway Bridge
Gateway Bridge, Brisbane
The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges are a pair of road bridges on the Gateway Motorway , which skirts the eastern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. They are the most eastern crossing of the Brisbane River, the closest to Moreton Bay, crossing at the Quarries Reach, between Eagle Farm and Murarrie...
in Brisbane and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel
Sydney Harbour Tunnel
The Sydney Harbour Tunnel is a twin-tube road tunnel in Sydney, Australia. The tunnel was completed and opened to traffic in August 1992 to provide a second vehicular crossing of Sydney Harbour to alleviate congestion on the Sydney Harbour Bridge....
. By the early 1980s, Transfield had in excess of 3,000 employees and an annual turnover of A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
350 million; and within five years grew to the point of being the biggest engineering firm in south-east Asia.
The company acquired the Williamstown Dockyard
Williamstown Dockyard
Williamstown Dockyard was one of Australia's principal ship building yards at Williamstown, Victoria, Australia.The Colony of Victoria decided to construct a large slipway at Williamstown to provide ship repair facilities in 1856 and the Government Patent Slip was opened in 1858. Slip Pier was...
in Melbourne and, in 1989 after winning a A$6 billion contract to build ten Anzac class frigates
Anzac class frigate
The Anzac class is a ship class of ten frigates; eight operated by the Royal Australian Navy and two operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy...
for the Australian and New Zealand governments, the largest defence company in Australia. When visiting Australia in 1986 Pope John Paul II toured the Transfield factory located at Seven Hills
Seven Hills, New South Wales
Seven Hills is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Seven Hills is located 34 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Blacktown. Seven Hills is part of the Greater Western Sydney region...
.
First known as AMECON, then as Transfield Defence Systems, the company re-established a naval shipbuilding capability in Australia with the successful construction of two Adelaide class
Adelaide class frigate
The Adelaide class is a ship class of six guided missile frigates constructed in Australia and the United States of America for service in the Royal Australian Navy. The class is based on the United States Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, but modified for Australian requirements...
frigates for the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
. It was later awarded the Anzac Ship Project contract, for 10 Anzac class
Anzac class frigate
The Anzac class is a ship class of ten frigates; eight operated by the Royal Australian Navy and two operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy...
frigates: eight for the Royal Australian Navy and two for the Royal New Zealand Navy
Royal New Zealand Navy
The Royal New Zealand Navy is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
.
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 Defence
Tenix Defence was Australia's largest defence contractor with core capabilities in Aerospace, Land, Marine and Electronic Systems applications. BAE Systems announced its intention to acquire the company from Tenix in January 2008 and the acquisition was completed in June 2008 for A$775 million...
. Tenix expanded afterwards with the acquisition of Hawker de Havilland (an aerostructure
Aerostructure
An aerostructure is a component of an aircraft's airframe. This may include all or part of the fuselage, wings, or flight control surfaces. Companies that specialize in constructing these components are referred to as "aerostructures manufacturers," though many larger aerospace firms with a more...
s 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
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
.
In January 2008, the Salteri family sold Tenix Defence to BAE Systems Australia
BAE Systems Australia
BAE Systems Australia, a subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, is the largest defence contractor in Australia. It was formed by the merger of British Aerospace Australia and GEC-Marconi Systems and expanded by the acquisitions of Armor Holdings in 2007 and Tenix Defence in June 2008.-History:BAE Systems'...
for A$775 million. The sale required the approval of the Australian Government's Foreign Investment Review Board and Department of Defence
Department of Defence (Australia)
The Australian Department of Defence is a Federal Government Department. It forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation along with the Australian Defence Force . The Defence mission is to defend Australia and its national interests...
. 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
Rossair
Rossair may refer to:*Rossair - an airline based in Australia*Rossair - an airline based in South Africa*Rossair Europe - an airline based in the Netherlands...
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
LADS
Laser airborne depth sounder is an aircraft-based hydrographic surveying system used by the Australian Hydrographic Service . The system uses the difference between the sea surface and the sea floor as calculated from the aircraft's altitude to generate hydrographic data.The lack of progress made...
Corporation that undertook hydrographic projects for international oil and gas exploration companies and seismic survey organisations was sold to Dutch multinational Fugro
Fugro
Fugro N.V. is a Dutch multinational company headquartered in Leidschendam. The current president is K.S. Wester.Fugro provides geotechnical, survey and geoscience services to oil, gas, mining and construction industries...
six months later.
Current operations
Tenix's main areas of operations include infrastructure maintenance and engineering services to the power, gas, water, telecommunications, mining, and transport industries in Australia and New Zealand. Some examples of projects completed by the Tenix group since 2005 include the construction of water recycling and wastewater treatment plants, the construction of wind and gas turbine stations, and geothermal power projects, gas mains connections to residential developments, supply and fabrication of equipment and plant for mining operations, parking management and infringement processing services. In November 2005 the company was threatened with losing the contract for operating speed cameras in Victoria, when the Victorian Government had to withdraw fines due to incorrect callibration of equipment by Tenix employees. In August 2007, Tenix lost the A$150 million contract to operate Victoria's mobile speed cameras, but retained the contract for processing and managing the enforcement process.Tenix's affiliates include RLM Systems, Australian Marine Technologies, and the company that operates the Sydney Harbour Tunnel
Sydney Harbour Tunnel
The Sydney Harbour Tunnel is a twin-tube road tunnel in Sydney, Australia. The tunnel was completed and opened to traffic in August 1992 to provide a second vehicular crossing of Sydney Harbour to alleviate congestion on the Sydney Harbour Bridge....
, where Tenix holds a 25% interest until the operating contract expires in June 2023.