Up to 100 jobs will be created in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, by the end of next year following a decision by US firm GMAC Commercial Holding to set up an operation in the town. GMAC will invest €21 million in a new high-level financial software research and development centre in Mullingar. IDA Ireland supports the project.

A subsidiary of General Motors, GMAC is a financial services company serving the global commercial real estate industry.

The centre, being set up to enhance GMAC's and its affiliates' current capabilities and grow its European and international business, will function as the information technology hub for all of the group's European and international activities. It will research and build advanced software capabilities .

GMAC already has a mortgage servicing and administrative facility in Mullingar, set up in 2000. That operation employs more than 120 people and the firm said it was on course to achieve its announced target of 210 staff by the end of 2002. The Mullingar mortgage servicing company is the headquarters for servicing European loan portfolios on behalf of GMAC affiliates and third parties. Its activities include full back-office services for commercial mortgage loans, detailed analysis of financial statements of properties on which mortgages have been made available, monitoring of all property insurance and real estate tax requirements and escrow analysis to ensure adequate funds to meet such commitments.

GMAC also has a lending facility, GMAC Commercial Mortgage Bank (Ireland), in the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin. The bank is its European headquarters for all lending operations, which provide a variety of commercial mortgage loans and products within the EU. Set up in 2000, it employs 15 people.

GMAC, with headquarters in Pennsylvania, has a portfolio of mortgages of $134.6 billion, up more than 70 per cent since 1999. It employs 2,600 people worldwide, specialising in multifamily loans - apartments with more than five units - and a variety of commercial properties. The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said GMAC's announcement was in line with the IDA's strategy to win higher skilled projects from firms already here.

Meanwhile, Ms Harney also opened IDA's offices in Athlone, which manages the IDA's regional development and property programmes as well as the promotional programmes for healthcare.