Singapore: GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of GE  has announced that it plans to invest $5 billion, almost a quarter of its total plan, outside the United States, to grow and help meet soaring energy demand by the end of 2010.

The unit has opened offices in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and expanded in India. ''Building on our international experience dating back to the mid 1990s, we are rapidly broadening our global footprint to propel GE's growth and help meet the world's deepening infrastructure needs, particularly in emerging markets,'' said Alex Urquhart, President and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services.

The increase of GE Energy Financial Services' new investments outside the United States to nearly a quarter of its total plan is a significant boost from its traditional level of 10 per cent.

Those investments are now spread across 35 developed and emerging countries. This strategy reinforces GE's company-wide plan to boost international revenues to take advantage of rapidly growing non-US economies, particularly in infrastructure areas such as energy.

In a statement, GE Energy Financial Services said that world primary energy demand is projected to grow by 55 per cent between 2005 and 2030, to 17.7 billion metric tons of oil equivalent, as estimated by the International Energy Administration.

GE reported that international revenues topped 50 per cent for the first time in 2007, up from an historic average of 40 per cent. Adding to its traditional outreach to developed markets in Europe, Canada and Australia, GE Energy Financial Services is focusing on emerging markets such as India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Turkey and the Middle East.

''As we deepen our understanding of new international regulatory and legal environments, we are pursuing our full suite of products and segments, with emphasis on renewable energy, captive power and water projects,'' said Colleen Harkness, Managing Director and head of global growth at GE Energy Financial Services.

''Our transaction targets range from small, growing power companies and independent power producers to major regional players and large multi-national corporations.''

Building on its successful expansion in India last year, GE Energy Financial Services is deploying investment origination, underwriting and legal support in emerging markets.

The India office, outside New Delhi and headed by Raghuveer Kurada, began in 2007 with two employees, and ended the year with 15. To cover Southeast and East Asia, GE Energy Financial Services recently opened a Singapore office, headed by James Berner. To reach the Middle East, GE Energy Financial Services has opened an office, headed by Suresh Vasan, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

These new offices will complement existing international operations covering Australia and New Zealand, headed by Jason Willoughby, Latin America, headed by Dan Castagnola, Europe, headed by Andrew Marsden, and Canada, headed by Mark Tonner.

During 2007, GE Energy Financial Services established two platforms for its non-US growth:

• A partnership with GAMA Holding AS of Turkey to invest in energy and water projects in Turkey and the surrounding region, and
• A stake in the investment arm of Indian power project developer KSK Power Venture Plc.

In addition, GE Energy Financial Services invested in a leading European wind farm developer, in a ship drilling for oil off the coast of Brazil, and in a hydroelectric power project in British Columbia.