Prudential Launches Real Estate Income Fund

NEWARK, NJ—Prudential Investments has launched the Prudential Real Estate Income Fund (NASDAQ: PRKAX), a real estate strategy driven by investments principally in real estate investment trusts, or REITs, and other real estate securities. Prudential Investments is the mutual fund business of Prudential Financial. (NYSE: PRU).

“This fund offers investors the opportunity to diversify their portfolios through exposure to an asset class that has delivered long-term competitive returns and low correlation to stocks and bonds,” says Stuart Parker, president of Prudential Investments. “By distributing a significant majority of their net income as dividends, global REITs offer investors a steady income stream and the potential for capital appreciation, as well,” said Halle. “In addition, we are seeking to have 20 percent of the portfolio invested in preferred REITs, which potentially have higher yields and less volatility than common stock REITs.”

Prudential says the fund is designed to appeal to investors seeking income, capital appreciation and diversity from other asset classes, such as stocks and bonds.

The fund is sub-advised by Prudential Real Estate Investors, a leader in private and public real estate investing for more than 40 years, and its dedicated real estate securities team. The fund portfolio management team also manages the Prudential Global Real Estate Fund with more than $3.8 billion in assets, as well as the Prudential US Real Estate Fund, the Prudential International Real Estate Fund and the Prudential Select Real Estate Fund.

The team, which averages 23 years of investment experience, includes Marc Halle, head of global real estate securities at PREI; Rick Romano, portfolio manager, North American securities; Gek Lang Lee, portfolio manager, Asia Pacific securities; Kwok Wing Cheong, portfolio manager, South Asia and Australasia securities; and Michael Gallagher, portfolio manager, European securities. The team will use a disciplined, research-intensive investment process, emphasizing both quantitative and qualitative analysis, and based on real estate fundamentals.

The fund is available in the following share classes: A: PRKAX, C: PRKCX and Z: PRKZX.