The Abacus cooperative has reached an agreement with the Pictet group and its local partner Freo to sell its logistics center in Vilanova del Camí for 31 million euros, according to market sources. It is a sale & leaseback operation, by which Abacus will continue to occupy the facilities, of 25,000 square meters, under a rental system for a period of 17 years, seven of which are mandatory.
This sale process comes at a decisive moment for Abacus, just one year after the merger with Som and when the plan outlined after the integration begins to pick up speed. The income obtained allows the cooperative to strengthen its balance sheet to face the planned investments in digitization and production of educational and audiovisual content in Catalan (including films), the main pillar of its new strategy.
Another smaller part of the investment (around one million euros) will go to renovating its network of 48 stores, to specialize 20 of them in a specific product line, following the model that it has already implemented in its shop on Còrsega street in Barcelona. The number of stores will remain stable, with no openings or closings in the portfolio.
