* Venture to have 2.5 bln euros in revenue
* May take around 9 to 12 months to finalise -Alstom CEO
* Alstom Power studying up to 2 Singapore contracts -exec
* Mature mkt power demand will take around 2 yrs to recover
(adds Singapore contract, venture details, CEO quotes, shares)
By Christian Plumb and Lionel Laurent
PARIS, April 21 (Reuters) - French engineering group Alstom said on Thursday that it had struck an agreement with Shanghai Electric Group to establish a joint venture combining both companies' power plant boiler divisions.
The 50-50 joint venture, to be called Alstom-Shanghai Electric Boilers Co, would have combined sales of about 2.5 billion euros ($3.63 billion) and will be registered in Shanghai with an operational headquarters in Singapore.
"At this stage we haven't got any specific financial targets, just the sense that we are stronger together than apart," Alstom Chief Executive Patrick Kron told reporters at a news conference to announce the venture.
Kron said that Shanghai Electric would gain from Alstom's technological assets while Alstom would have a better presence in the Chinese market with an attractive cost base.
At 1148 GMT, Alstom shares were up 1.3 percent, to 44.30 euros, outperforming a 0.7 percent higher CAC-40 index.
The deal is the latest in a series of efforts by Alstom, whose businesses include power generation and infrastructure, to broaden its presence in the Chinese market, where it is active in hydro-electric dams as well as high-speed rail.
The joint venture, which would sell boilers and spare parts for coal-fired power plants, will be set up once the two companies win the needed regulatory approvals. It could take another nine to twelve months to complete, Kron said.
Shanghai Electric is already active in coal-fired power generation and in October signed an agreement to provide $8.3 billion in equipment to India-based infrastructure group Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.
SINGAPORE CONTRACTS
Power demand in emerging markets has recovered since the financial crisis but it will still take more time for developed markets to follow suit, Alstom Power head Philippe Joubert said on the sidelines of the event.
"Europe and the U.S. are still pretty quiet...We think these markets will get going again in around two years," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, demand from Asian markets like Singapore is still going strong, Joubert said. After winning a batch of gas-fired plant contracts in the city-state over the past six months, Alstom is eyeing more, he said.
"We know there are one to two investments that are being decided," Joubert said, adding they were both for gas-fired plants and would be around the same value as previous ones.
"We are always confident," he said.
($1=.6883 Euro) (Reporting by Christian Plumb and Lionel Laurent; Editing by David Cowell)