MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican retailer and lender Grupo Coppel plans to invest more than 12 billion Mexican pesos ($726 million) this year to boost its store network and reduce its environmental footprint, it said in a statement on Monday.

The company, owned by the billionaire Coppel family, said it would remodel some of its stores and open more than 100 new ones, bringing the total in the country to 1,782, as well as create 8,000 new jobs.

The company will also invest an additional 6 billion pesos in the next three years to enhance digital services, it said.

More than 700 stores will have solar panels by the end of 2024, it said, adding the move would offset carbon emissions by 33,000 metric tons.

The conglomerate, which owns department stores and a bank and employs more than 120,000 people, indefinitely postponed a more than $1 billion initial public offering in 2018.

A spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for additional comment on the status of the postponed IPO.

Coppel sells appliances, electronics, furniture, and clothing, and operates a banking arm.

($1 = 16.5330 Mexican pesos)