NEW YORK - General Electric Co. (GE) is considering making an offer to acquire closely held NIB Capital Bank NV, a Dutch commercial-finance and investment bank valued at more than $3 billion, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal.

NIB Capital had $228 million in net income in 2004, more than double its profit of $96.8 million in 2003. It recently hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate whether to sell the bank or offer shares to the public. People familiar with the situation say the process is in its early stages, and that potential bidders are evaluating the books.

A GE spokesman, John Oliver, wouldn't comment specifically on NIB. He said that "Europe continues to be a market of enormous interest for GE Commercial Finance." A spokeswoman for NIB declined to comment.

GE Commercial Finance, the biggest single business at the Fairfield, Conn., conglomerate, has been growing aggressively, including in Europe, where it has operations ranging from owning and leasing real estate to lending money, primarily to mid-market businesses. Its profit grew 15% in 2004 to $4.5 billion from $3.9 billion in 2003. It has more than $240 billion in assets.

NIB, based in The Hague, is a commercial lender but also does investment banking, an area in which GE has little participation. NIB is focused on northwestern Europe with offices in London , Brussels , Singapore , Curacao and Greenwich, Conn.

Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Kathryn Kranhold and Jason Singer contributed to this report. Dow Jones Newswires 03-24-05 0017ET Copyright (C) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.