A subsidiary of Emeritus Senior Living, the largest assisted living provider in the US, has jointly established the first foreign-invested nursing home in Shanghai, according to an announcement from the Pudong New Area government.

The joint venture that will manage the home, Shanghai Cascade Healthcare-Huapeng Senior Care Co Ltd, is the first to take advantage of a policy that the district government instituted on June 7 to open senior citizen care to private enterprises.

The policy aims to improve senior citizen care for the city's aging population, local authorities said on June 7.

In a country with more than 100 million seniors, Shanghai is burdened with providing care for 3.47 million permanent residents over 60 years old, who account for 24.5 percent of the city's population, according to the Shanghai Research Center on Aging. The figure is expected to climb to about 30 percent by 2015. 

The policy includes a pilot program that encourages Chinese and foreign companies to invest in senior care to insure that the city has the resources to provide quality care.

Cascade Healthcare is a joint venture of the Hong Kong-based China Senior Housing Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emeritus, and two Chinese firms, Shanghai Shengyuan Group and Shanghai Hongtian Construction & Engineering Co Ltd.

The three firms established Cascade Healthcare on June 14 with $3 million in registered capital, part of a $6 million total investment, according to an announcement from the Pudong New Area of Administration of Industry and Commerce.

Shanghai Shengyuan Group is a real estate firm that plans to work with Emeritus to invest in four to five high-end nursing homes in Shanghai and about 30 nationwide.