Five Star Painting Pioneers New Markets in Brazil

Two franchises to open in explosive Brazilian market

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Nov 30, 2010, 04:48 ET

SPRINGVILLE, Utah, Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Five Star Painting, one of the fastest-growing painting franchise companies in the world, has begun a major expansion in Brazil focused on Curitiba and Sao Paulo, both large metropolitan areas.

"The opportunities for painting franchises in the Brazilian market are mind boggling," said Conrad Kolba, Five Star Painting's COO. "The market is just completely wide open for what we do."

This is only the beginning of Five Star's presence in Brazil's turbo-charged economy, which has grown as fast as 9 percent throughout 2010. Systematized painting franchises like Five Star are new to Brazil and its reliable and reasonably priced painting service is in huge demand.

Two electrical engineers and business partners, Felipe Cruz and Felipe Della Bianco, opened the country's first Five Star franchise in Curitiba in October. Ricardo Rocha, who has worked in Brazil's booming automotive manufacturing industry, will open his first franchise in the capital city of Sao Paulo on Jan. 1, 2011.

"There's a screaming need for higher painting standards and quality and better painter training," Kolba added. "Brazil is a huge, developing country but it lacks much of the painting methods and technology we have in the US."

Cruz, Della Bianco and Rocha are master franchisees; they can sub-franchise dozens of Five Star operations in their territories. Sao Paulo is the seventh largest city in the world with a population of 20 million in the metro area. Curitiba has a population of 3.2 million and has the largest economy in southern Brazil.

According to Capital Markets Ltd., a London-based brokerage and financial analyst company, Brazil is the second-fastest growing economy among the four so-called BRIC countries, behind China, and ahead of India and Russia. BRIC countries are all deemed to be at an advanced stage of economic development.

"We are beyond excited about welcoming our new partners in Brazil," said Scott Abbott, CEO of Five Star Painting. "We look forward to watching them grow in this dynamic, untapped market. We will support them every step of the way in delivering unparalleled quality, workmanship and reliability to Five Star's Painting's customers."