China Everbright to Invest $100 M in Israeli Co.’s

China Everbright Ltd (CEL) and Israel’s Catalyst Equity Management have raised $100 million for a private equity fund that will invest in Israeli companies.

The Catalyst CEL Fund will target mid-to-late stage companies with proven innovation, including biomed, whose strategy includes expansion into emerging markets with a special focus on China, or firms with products that have significant commercial potential in these markets.

“Our goal is to reach $200 to $300 million. We just had our first closing of $100 million but we have strong interest from Chinese, Israeli and international investors to join the fund,” Edouard Cukierman, managing partner of the Catalyst CEL Fund, told Reuters. “We are confident we will be able to reach our goal by the end of this year.”

CEL committed $75 million of the first $100 million.

The first investment is expected to be made in the coming weeks.