April 22 (SeeNews) - German discount retailer Lidl seeks to buy land to build a logistics centre in Montenegro's southern Zeta municipality ahead of the planned opening of its store chain across the Adriatic state, the head of Zeta municipality, Mihailo Asanovic, said.
"We received a letter of intent from Lidl for 200,000 square metres of land where they want to build a logistics centre to serve their planned stores in all other towns across Montenegro," Asanovic told local broadcaster TV Vijesti on Friday. A video file with his statement is uploaded on Vijesti's website.
He also said that Lidl has already bought a land plot for a store in Zeta, as well as in other Montenegrin towns.
In February 2022, then economic development minister Jakov Milatovic said that Lidl plans to open about 20 stores in Montenegro by 2024.
Lidl registered its Podgorica-based unit Lidl Crna Gora in March 2021, according to data of Montenegro's commercial register. As of February 2024, the subsidiary has a total capital of 26.5 million euro ($28.2 million). It is 100%-owned by Germany's WE-International Zweite.
In Southeast Europe, Lidl is already present in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
Zeta is the newest municipality in Montenegro. Until August 2022, it was a municipal department within the municipality of the capital Podgorica under the name of Golubovci. The town of Golubovci is now the seat of Zeta municipality.
($ = 0.939 euro)