US-based franchise Anytime Fitness has announced a number of deals that will see the chain expand into Benelux and Japan, as well as into the UK and Ireland as previously reported in Leisure Opportunities.

A master franchise agreement has been signed with Petro Hameleers of the Netherlands, involving plans for 150 clubs in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg over the next 10 years.

Hameleers - already a club owner as well as a physical therapist, and with more than 15 years' experience in the fitness industry - says his first Anytime Fitness club could open as early as January 2011.

Meanwhile projections are for 300 new clubs to open in Japan over the next 10 years, where a consortium led by Toru Yamazaki - former CEO of Megalos, the fifth largest health club chain in Japan (and a subsidiary of Japanese corporate giant Nomura Real Estate Group) - has taken on the master franchise.

The company, Fast Fitness Japan, will now do business as Anytime Fitness Japan. Anytime Fitness expects to open its 2,000th club by the end of next year.

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