US computer giant, Hewlett Packard, which recently announced a £218 million investment at Leixlip, Co Kildare, is to set up a company in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre.

The Dublin based operation will act as a parent company for Hewlett Packard's leasing business in Europe, it said yesterday. It estimates that the value of its leasing business in the IFSC will be worth more than £500 million over three years.

Hewlett Packard, which currently employs 300 people in the Republic, has said it plans to create almost 2,000 jobs in an expansion of its Leixlip plant over the next three years. The company employs over 100,000 people worldwide.