KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): Malaysian-headquartered leading data technology company Fusionex Group has wound up following a court order, a move that is expected to affect over 500 employees.
In several documents obtained by The Edge, group CEO Hiroyuki Kumazaki in an announcement dated Dec 17 said that the winding up of Fusiotech Holdings Sdn Bhd and 12 other wholly-owned subsidiaries was due to “inadequate handover of records and information by the previous management”.
“This decision stems from the insurmountable challenges arising from the inadequate handover of records and information by the previous management, which effectively left Hitachi without any form of information relating to the management, operations, and continuity of the business of Fusionex Group,” he stated.
Kumazaki was appointed the position on Dec 6.
The company was established by Datuk Seri Ivan Teh, who was named as EY Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Malaysia in 2014. He resigned from his post at Fusiotech with immediate effect on Dec 6 with other key resignations. His position at Fusionex is still unclear.
“The previous senior management departed the company immediately without any form of handover of the management and the operations. In addition, all information relating to the continuity of the Fusionex operations and business was not shared before or handed over during their departure,” stated the documents.
A high-ranking employee confirmed the news. “[It’s not a stop work order]. They are still employed until the liquidation happens, until a court assigns a liquidator. We don’t know [when that will happen]. It depends on the courts hearing and when they assign the liquidator.”
“Essentially the company is winding down. There a lot of people who are worried with the uncertainty. Given their skills and their profile, most would have no issue getting a job soon, that’s my guess,” said the employee.
To facilitate the transition Hitachi will honour December payments to all its employees, stated the documents. On top of that, an additional amount equivalent to a January salary will be given on a goodwill basis. The current management is also arranging support for employees to look for new jobs.
Fusionex is a data technology provider specialising in analytics, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Hitachi Ltd (Japan) took over Fusionex in 2020 to expand its software-as-a-service, AI and data analytics solutions for businesses in a range of verticals. The goal was to increase, obtain and secure new customer bases, technologies and expertise utilising the resources that Fusionex had cultivated in the Asian region.
“The whole group is affected. There are subsidiaries for training, innovation and R&D, it's the whole group. Malaysia is the HQ. Hitachi takes over and decides to liquidate the organisation, pending some investigation,” said the employee.
“Only then we will find out the cause of the investigation. Anything at this point of time is highly speculative until the investigation is complete. They have gone to court but it needs to go through a hearing before anything takes place. So I’m not sure when the hearing is going to take place. All this is done by Hitachi’s lawyers.”
In 2017, Fusionex withdrew the listing of its shares from London Stock Exchange AIM to be a private company, less than five years after its oversubscribed initial public offering.