Serbia’s Delta Holding has signed two deals with German discount retail chain Lidl, the deputy president of the Serb company, Dejan Jeremic, said on Feb 12 as reported by news service eKapija.

Jeremic, however, declined to reveal any details on the contracts, saying keeping them secret was part of the agreement with Lidl. He reminded Delta Holding, which is owned by Serbian tycoon Miroslav Miskovic also signed a contract with French retailer Carrefour.

The holding’s member Delta Real Estate said in February 2013 that Carrefour will open its first shop in Serbia in 2015 inside the Delta Planet shopping mall in the capital Belgrade. Back then, the Serb company signed a leasing contract with Carrefour for a 10,000 square metres location with the future mall, which will also open doors in 2015. The two companies have agreed to extend their partnership to other locations as well.

Lidl, on the other hand, is expected to start building its first stores in Serbia in the second half of 2014 and has already bought land in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Zrenjanin, Smederevo, Valjevo and Subotica. The discount retailer probably plans to open stores within shopping malls as well, considering the agreement with Delta Holding.

Another big retail chain entered Serbia some three years ago - Belgium's Delhaize Group, after acquiring retailer Delta Maxi for EUR 932.5mn in July 2011 from Delta Holding.