KUALA LUMPUR (May 12): Ageson Bhd's subsidiaries and Koperasi Belia Nasional Bhd (Kobena) have mutually agreed to terminate three memoranda of understanding (MOUs) in relation to a vending machine business and the sale and development of a parcel of land in Gombak.

In a series of bourse filings on Friday (May 12), Ageson said two MOUs entered into by its indirect units Ageson Retails Sdn Bhd (ARSB) and Ageson Net Sdn Bhd (ANSB) with Kobena concerning the sale of 4,000 Internet-of-Things-enabled vending machines and/or retail fridges by ARSB to Kobena for RM120 million, and the appointment of ANSB as the operator of Kobena's vending machine business, were ended.

When announcing the vending machine deal last October, Ageson said the new venture was expected to rake in RM2.3 billion in annual revenue.

Meanwhile, another MOU entered into by Ageson's 99%-owned indirect subsidiary Solidvest Properties Sdn Bhd (SPSB) and Kobena for SPSB to sell and develop a 9.33-acre piece of freehold land to Kobena — a conglomeration of cooperatives nationwide with almost 35,000 members — was also called off.

Kobena was supposed to buy the land from SPSB for RM35 million, and then appoint the company to develop landed homes with a gross development value of RM95.2 million on the parcel.

The MOUs were terminated as the parties were unable to agree to and finalise the terms of the respective deals, said Ageson.

Ageson's subsidiaries had entered into the MOUs with Kobena between September and October last year.

On Thursday, the group announced that a deal to sell a 168-acre parcel of industrial land in Perak to China’s Zhejiang Guorong Digital Economy Group Ltd (ZGDEG) for RM278.78 million was called off due to the prolonged delay in obtaining approvals for the proposed development.

Shares in Ageson last traded at three sen on May 9, for a market capitalisation of RM9.35 million. Trading of its shares was suspended on May 10 after it failed to meet the deadline to issue its annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2022, as it could not find an auditor to audit its financials.

Its last auditor STYL Associates PLT resigned in February this year, after being appointed in November 2022, due to “resource constraints” on the auditor’s part, according to the company.

Ageson had approached 16 potential auditors to replace STYL Associates, but said “the majority of the auditors' responses were negative due to resource constraints of the respective firms”, in a bourse filing on April 25.