The Serbian unit of Slovenian retailer Mercator has leased around 68,000 square metres of warehouse space from Amsterdam-based industrial and logistics properties developer, CTP.
Mercator-S has taken out a 15-year lease at a new building under construction at the CTPark Belgrade City, poised to become the largest logistics hub in Serbia when complete, with 135,000 square metres of industrial space.
Mercator-S will occupy around 59,000 square metres of warehouse space and 4,000 square metres of mezzanine space, in addition to 1,000 square metres of office space and around 3,000 square metres of sanitary space.
Specialising in FMCG retail and wholesale, Mercator-S will use the space for its new Serbian distribution centre, with the aim to centralise all its warehousing requirements under one roof.
Improved Efficiency
The goal is to further improve the efficiency behind its store network in Serbia, comprising almost 300 Idea-branded retail stores, 33 Roda supermarkets, two Mercator hypermarkets, and four Velpro wholesale centres.
Situated in New Belgrade, the largest municipality in Serbia’s capital, CTPark Belgrade City is an 'ideal location' for last-mile and city logistics, the group noted, as it is less than 10 kilometres away from the city centre and only 10 kilometres from Belgrade Airport.
The CTPark Belgrade City aims to achieve a minimum BREEAM Very Good energy efficiency certification.
Violeta Kovacevic, CEO at Mercator Serbia, highlighted that the retailer’s future growth “will be underpinned by enhanced operating excellence and cost efficiency across our businesses.”
In April of this year, Montenegro’s Agency for the Protection of Competition (AZK) approved the acquisition of local supermarket chain Supermarketi Franca by Mercator-CG.
Mercator-CG is the local unit of Slovenian retailer Mercator, which is in turn, owned by Fortenova Group (formerly Agrokor).
