Bulging elderly population in Fortress' sights

US-based investment firm, Fortress Investment Group LLC, plans to raise about $1 billion to create a fund that seeks to capitalize on future demand for elderly housing in China, the Financial Times reported Monday.
Fortress, which operates the largest independent senior living facilities in the US and Canada, plans to bring its senior retirement facility template to China, the paper reported.
The New York-based firm is also said to be in talks with potential partners on the mainland, the report said without disclosing additional details.
"It is complicated and difficult to get it right, "Fortress founder, Wes Edens, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Edens is expected to focus more on coastal China and cities that are relatively wealthy, so local governments can help bear the cost of the facilities, the paper stated.
Fortress has about a third of Brookdale Senior Living, a US public company that operates elderly facilities, as well as Holiday Retirement Corp, a private firm. Calls to the Fortress went unanswered Monday.
The potential for growth in the elderly-housing business will be huge in the future, but enormous difficulties now exist that "are beyond anyone's imagination," said Zhu Fengbo, president of retirement facility developer Beijing Sun Cities Group Monday.
Previously, grown-up children took responsibility for the care of their parents ... but things are changing as our offspring spend more time working, Zhu said. People over 60 make up 12.5 percent of the population, a figure estimated to rise to 20 percent in 2020. "The lack of capital resources is one of the obstacles domestic retirement-facility developers face," Zhu said.