Yesterday the court of Zutphen declared once high-flying Dutch computer group HCS Technology NV bankrupt. Last week, HCS Technology NV, HCS Beheer NV and HCS Automation Services Group BV requested permission to delay payments in order to be able to dismantle the group in an orderly fashion (CI No 2,005). But on Tuesday, the managers decided there wasn’t any justification to continue with the extension of payment. HCS Beheer BV and HCS Automation Services Group BV however, remain under court protection. The dismantlement of the group began after the shareholders meeting last June. In August, HCS agreed that GTI Corp would take over HCS Apeldoorn (HCS Building Automation and HCS Industrial Automation) and sold its subsidiaries HCS Professional Services and HCS Opleidingen to Randstad NV. HCS Belgium sold its automation arm to Polydata NV, a sister company of Philips Electronics NV’s Philips C&P subsidiary. The main divisions of the company have been regrouped under the name Manudax Belgium NV and are now owned by the management. The Infotec group, in which HCS Technology formerly had a stake of 50% (via HCS Beheer) has raised about $17m in new equity capital. HCS now owns only 30% of the company. Co-shareholder Blackbox Datacom BV agreed about the sale of HCS’s 50% stake in HCS Manudax, the company will continue its activities as Manudax Nederland BV, in close collaboration with Manudax Belgium. HCS sold its stake in Indigo Graphic Systems to its partner in the venture. The HCS Engineering Systems BV, HCS Public Automation Services BV, HCS Vison Technology BV, HCS Logistics BV, HCS Facilities Management BV and HCS Office Systems BV subsidiaries have been declared bankrupt and are being liquidated. HCS is in talks with different companies for the few bits and pieces that remain of its once-proud empire.
