Robert Yahav, CEO of "Big CEE Belgrade" – Shopping park in Belgrade prior to mid-2011

(Robert Yahav)

Israeli group "BIG CEE", which has recently started preparations in Novi Sad for construction of the first retail park in Serbia, plans to open a facility in Belgrade in 15 months, and the negotiations on purchase of the location are underway. As Robert Yahav, the CEO of "BIG CEE Group Belgrade", announced for "eKapija", that company needs about 5 ha of land in the capital city for construction of the future complex at 10,000-15,000 square meters.

"BIG CEE" intends to open up to 15 centers in our country within next five years and invest about 500m EUR in them, and almost all major cities in Serbia are on the group's investment map. According to the words of Mr. Yahav, that company is open for partnership with the owners of attractive locations, and one of the options is takeover of existing centers.

(Appearance of future retail park in Novi Sad)

- Although we have already started realization of a greenfield investment, that does not have to be the only form of our investment in Serbia. The center in Novi Sad, in which between 40 and 50m EUR will be invested, is going to be finished by the end of year 2010, and we have already bought the lots in Jagodina and Šabac as well. We will be focused mainly on the cities with 80,000 to 120,000 inhabitants, including Kragujevac, Kruševac, Niš... - said Yahav.

The retail park in Novi Sad will be situated 4 km away from the city center, that is, 5 km away from highway E-75 Horgoš-Novi Sad-Belgrade. The park will have an excellent connection with the city through big junctions - Santandrejski road, Kisački road and Rumenački road.

The main contractor on the retail park project in Novi Sad is company "Neimar", while the supervision and planning are done by experts from the "BIG CEE" group.

- The complex will occupy 9 ha, and we always use 33% of the land, so that 30,000 square meters or 55 units will be offered to tenants. One of the specific features of our centers is spacious parking space, and the one in the capital city of Vojvodina will include total of 1,500 parking places. "King Sturge", the general lease agent, has already signed the first contracts with international and local companies. One of Israeli brands that will enter Serbian market is "Fox Fashion", and its exclusive distributor is company "Tref". Also, Israeli cosmetic company "Lalin" will offer its products to the people in Serbia, as well as Slovenian "Bing Bang". Other well-known tenants are "ToysRUs", "Super Pharm", "McDonald`s", "Zara", "Adidas"... - said Mr. Yahav.

The retail park in Novi sad will comprise a supermarket at about 4,000 square meters, "food court" with "Amati", section for kids, exchange offices, bookstores, jewelry, lingerie and shoe stores, etc.

- We are also negotiating with cinema chain "Kolosej", but we are not sure if it is going to be one of the tenants. In case we establish cooperation, it will be situated on the second floor of the facility.

Yahav says that the development of shopping mall industry in our country is at its beginning and that Belgrade requires minimum ten facilities of the kind.

- "BIG CEE" has recently opened the 15th shopping park in Israel, while construction of another six complexes is in progress. We own all these facilities, we have not sold any of them, and that is our strategy for Serbia as well. We have not come here to build one center only.

"BIG CEE" has recently entered the market of India, while the expansion of business to the United States of America is in the pipeline. The company was also present in Spain for a short time.

- Of all countries in Southeast Europe, Serbia is the most interesting and that is why we have decided to invest significant amount of money in it. Bulgarian market has many players, as well as Romania. We don't find Croatia interesting because only several centers can be built in that country. Bosnia and Herzegovina seems interesting, but we do not want to take the risk of excessive presence, due to vicinity of Serbia, so that we could have maximum 5 parks built in it. Macedonian market can only have three such centers at the moment, while Montenegro can have two - one in Podgorica and one at the seaside - Yahav explained.