Barcelona Water Company returns social HQ to Catalonia

The Barcelona Water Company (Societat General d'Aigües de Barcelona) more commonly known as Agbar has decided to transfer its social headquarters back to Catalonia, having moved it to Madrid on October 7 after last year's independence referendum.

In a statement on Tuesday, the company said "economic stability" was a factor in the decision. The firm also said the move to Madrid had been "temporary" and was aimed at "preserving the legal security of investors and protecting the interests of employees, clients and suppliers."

Agbar also insisted in the statement that the change of headquarters has "not affected" the company's services nor any of its investments.

Agbar was just one of hundreds of firms based in Catalonia that decided to move their corporate headquarters out of the country in the wake of the October 1 referendum and the declaration of independence that followed on October 27.

Last October alone, some 1,700 businesses moved their head offices to other parts of Spain, including large banks like CaixaBank and Sabadell, as well as construction giant Abertis. By March this year, that number had risen to over 4,500, according to Spain's association of registrars.

However, this decision by the water company means that Agbar now becomes the first of the large firms that left Catalonia due to the political crisis to make a return.