GETTY Images, the largest provider of stock photography, has set aside a $400 million (£220 million) war chest to expand its business into Europe and Asia over the next 18 months, The Times has learnt.

The company’s co-founders, Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein, want to bulk up the company’s presence in markets such as Germany, Italy and Spain through acquisitions and partnerships.

“We want to grow internationally, outside the English-speaking world,” Mr Getty, the chairman, who is one of 59 heirs to the Getty oil fortune, said. He was an investment banker before founding Getty Images with Mr Klein in 1995.

Getty Images sells images of everything from stars at film premiers to gun battles in Iraq. Created more than a decade ago, the company initially grew rapidly through acquisitions, but the pace has slowed in recent years to allow for integration of its diverse assets.

“We bought 40 companies in quick succession and we had to turn around and consolidate ourselves. If we had bought another 40 companies in the next five years it would have been a much more difficult process,” Mr Getty said.

The plans for the expansion are intended to ensure that Getty Images has a firm presence in Germany ahead of the 2006 World Cup and in China in time for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Mr Klein, the chief executive, added: “Within 12 months we will be doing something significant in India and China, as well as putting down some deeper roots in other parts of the Far East.

“We see China as being full of opportunity, but it’s not necessarily going to happen overnight. China is a big economy but advertising there is still in its infancy.

“In terms of growth there’s much lower-hanging fruit in parts of Europe, and we will either be acquiring or finding partners there. It will happen soon, and Germany will be first for obvious reasons — we opened in Sydney ahead of the Olympics.”

Mr Klein said the company could use coverage of local sports, such as the Primera Liga in Spain and Italy’s Serie A, as a springboard into local markets. The company wants to beef up its coverage of live events such as the looming Olympic Games in Athens as it seeks to secure more media firms as customers.

Mr Klein said that Getty Images, which sells most of its images to commercial clients such as advertising agencies, was “underdone in editorial images” and was hoping to increase its 10 per cent share of the estimated $1 billion global editorial images market.

To fund the expansion Getty Images could dip into its cash resources of more than $420 million or seek deals either using shares or its monthly cashflow of about $12 million.

Mr Getty recently stepped back from a full-time role at Getty Images to focus on other tasks, which include helping to manage his family’s investment portfolio and establishing a fledgeling media investment firm, Sutton Place Managers.

Getty Images, which is quoted in New York, employs about 1,600 full-time staff, including about 430 in London, and is expected to generate profits of about $100 million on sales of $600 million in 2004.