The Elegance Group – owner of the Elegance Gontard International in Nice, France – is near to finalising a deal with a Japanese training provider in order to open a spa training school in Tokyo as part of an international rollout.

The Gontard School was launched in the 1970s by Marcelle Gontard as a beauty diploma school, catering for around 50 local students.

The facility was bought by Jean-Eric Knecht and his wife, Stephanie Gaillet, for 190,000 euro (US$259,000, £128,000) in 1990 and renamed Elégance Gontard International, located in the centre of Nice, France.

The duo also established the Elégance Group, of which Knecht is president, to oversee other projects.

Knecht and the group’s international development director, Jacques François, are currently finalising a deal to open a new training school in Tokyo.

The Japanese company will start offering three Elégance courses from next April, and has already built a dedicated training school including a 2,690sq ft (9250sq m) training spa.

The Japanese teachers will also spend a study month in Nice, while a teacher from France will be permanently based in Japan.

Also on the cards is a collaboration with a beauty and spa school in Dubai, which could be finalised in the next couple of months, along with possible other Elégance allegiances with a product distributor in Russia and a Morrocan hotel chain. (See Spa Business 07/03 p98. To order, visit www.spabusiness.com)