MADISON, NJ—Continuing to seek out opportunities in the seniors housing field, which it has long considered home territory, Prudential Real Estate Investors said Tuesday it had closed on its fifth fund in the sector. Senior Housing Partners V has a total of $629 million in capital commitments; it's the fifth in a series of dedicated, closed-end funds aimed at the independent, assisted living and memory care segments.

“Powerful demographic trends continue to support the high demand for seniors housing, while the supply remains constrained,” says Noah Levy, head of PREI's seniors housing business. “As the overall economy improves, we expect that seniors housing will continue to benefit.”

Levy tells GlobeSt.com that consistent with its predecessors, “which often invested via joint ventures with its operating partners,” SHP V will employ a flexible investment strategy “which would consider both direct and JV acquisitions.” It will target direct acquisitions, forward commitments, developments, mezzanine loans and other opportunities.

The capital raise exceeded PREI's $500-million target. It included $430.5 million from 10 existing investors and $198.5 million from four new investors, including US public and corporate pension plans.

SHP V now stands as the largest of PREI's dedicated seniors-housing funds. The first such fund, SHP I, closed in 1998 with approximately $183 million in commitments. SHP II followed three years later with approximately $94 million in commitments; the fund was followed in turn by SHP III, which closed in 2006 at about $371 million; and SHP IV, which closed with approximately $569 million in commitments in 2011.

That first fund 17 years ago helped to pioneer the dedicated seniors housing investment strategy. To date, PREI's Senior Housing Partners team has invested approximately $2.6 billion in gross assets in the senior housing sector, involving more than 140 properties and over 15,000 units across the US.