LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - General Electric (GE) announced it plans to invest over $400m and create between 500 and 1,000 jobs in Europe as it builds a turboprop engine development, test and production facility.


The announcement follows its statement on Tuesday that it plans to shift 500 jobs to outside the US, citing the lack of a US Export Bank as the reason to build offshore.

GE has commenced talks with several foreign export credit agencies (ECA) to secure financing for its customers after the US Export Import Bank (Ex-Im) authorisation expired at the beginning of July.

GE Aviation president and chief executive David Joyce said GE has $11bn in sales opportunities in the pipeline requiring ECA financing.

"The uncertainty around the Ex-Im Bank in the US requires that companies like GE create alternatives in order to compete internationally."

GE also revealed it will invest $55m in Celma, Brazil, to build a new engine test facility, and will spend $23m to expand its engine testing capability in Winnipeg, Canada.

GE vice-chairman John Rice said the announcement hasn't been made lightly.

"[We] have done everything in our power to avoid making these moves at all, but Congress left us no choice when it failed to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank this summer.

"We know this will have an impact not only on our employees but on the hundreds of US suppliers we work with that cannot move their facilities, but we cannot walk away from our customers."

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he expects Congress to reauthorise the Export-Import Bank during its upcoming budget negotiations.

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