Ikea, the world's largest furniture retailer from Sweden, is to invest some EUR 300 million in the construction of a shopping centre and a factory in the Croatian coastal city of Split, local media reported on Tuesday, quoting the town mayor.

Ikea needs some 300,000 square metres to build a large shopping centre and a factory on the condition that the price does not exceed 100 euro per square metre, daily Vecernji List reported, quoting Split mayor Zeljko Kerum.

Kerum also said he learned of the company's plans during his recent meeting with Ikea’s director general for Eastern Europe.

Ikea is considering investing billions of euros in new stores in the Balkan countries depending on the pace of the region's economic recovery, international media reported last month.

Ikea is eyeing three or four shopping centres in Serbia, two in Croatia, and one in Slovenia, Reuters quoted Per Kaufmann, general director of Ikea's operations in Russia and eastern Europe, as saying at the time.

Kaufmann also told Reuters that a store in Croatian capital Zagreb could open in 2011 or in 2012 but that plans for opening an Ikea chain in Belgrade soon had recently hit a snag.

In the Balkans, Ikea already has one store in the Romanian capital Bucharest.