Israel's Infinity I-China invests in Chiral Quest

TEL AVIV, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Israel's Infinity I-China said on Tuesday it had participated, along with other investors, in a $13 million investment round for Chiral Quest Inc.

Chiral Quest, headquartered in New Jersey with operations in Jiashan, China, is a technology company assisting pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms to develop processes for the manufacture of their drugs.

"Infinity identified the medical sector as a major focus long ago," Bella Ohana, chief scientific officer at Infinity I-China, said.

The investment in Chiral Quest follows last June's investment in China Medicine On-Line, a national healthcare network in China. [ID:nL03751123]

The money will be used to help build Chiral Quest's new pilot plant and research and development centre in China's Suzhou Industrial Park. It will also be used to expand production capabilities.

Amir Gal-Or, managing partner of Infinity I-China, said that in addition to the medical sector, agriculture and water technology will be major focuses of Infinity in China in 2009.

Infinity I-China was founded by IDB Development IDBD.TA subsidiary Clal Industries (CII.TA) of Israel, China Development Bank and China Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Ventures Co.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen; editing by Simon Jessop)