Novoline gives up construction of logistics center in Vrcin - Slovenian company leaves Serbia

Slovenia's Novoline, majority owner of the freight-forwarding and transportation company Transped-Beograd, announced on Friday that it was giving up the construction of a logistics center in Vrcin, an investment worth EUR 24 million.

Dusan Plut, the owner and director of Novoline, said at a press conference in Belgrade that that Ljubljana-based company would withdraw the capital from Serbia because, in his opinion, their "foreign investor rights are not protected" in Serbia.

Plut said that the company would withdraw about EUR 11 million capital from Transped in the following period.

He stated that it took years to collect all the necessary permits in Serbia, whereas Novoline had obeyed all the laws of the country and fulfilled all social program obligations in the privatization of Transped.

According to Plut, a significant damage has been inflicted to the company from Slovenia and it will seek justice at the international court in Strasbourg.

Novoline from Ljubljana became the majority owner of Transped in 2005 and the sole owner of that Serbian company in late 2009.

(Dusan Plut)

As Plut explained, the biggest problem occurred in the first half of 2006 when the newly formed private company and direct competitor Transped Pro Team took over nearly 200 employees, including the whole management, and most of Transped's clients - about 3,000 of them.

According to his words, that endangered the company's operations the most.

He said that the illegal and unauthorized use of the word Transped in the business name of the new company had confused clients and business partners.

Transped was founded in 1955 and, following the breakup of former Yugoslavia, the company had organizational units in all republics, with over 40 affiliates covering all border crossings and customs offices.