PARSIPPANY, NJ-Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC signed master franchise agreements to open offices in Vietnam and 23 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The Vietnam agreement was signed with Winn Enterprises LLC, and the European agreement was signed with Betna for Real Estate Marketing.

The agreement with Betna, a collaboration of partners with backgrounds in banking and investment, property management and real estate development, will allow Coldwell to open offices in Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Oman, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkmenistan, Ukriane, Uzbekistan and Yemen. Betna is based in Egypt and operates as Coldwell Banker Middle East. It holds master franchise rights for 12 pan-Arab countries.

"International growth is one of our key initiatives, and entering into [these] agreements is a positive step in the brand's expansion," says Jim Gillespie, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker. Signing the agreements will allow Coldwell Banker to "seamlessly introduce our brand to a very important and vast geographic area."

In January of this year, Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization and has seen a rapid rise in foreign investment. Winn Enterprises is eager to take advantage of the rise in foreign investment and the growth in the consumer market Vietnam has seen since joining the World Trade Organization. "With the market potential that exists, we hope to emerge as a market leader in the real estate sector," says Kim Nguyen, president of Winn Enterprises.