By Tess Stynes

HCP Inc. (HCP) said Chief Executive Lauralee Martin has resigned from the health-care real-estate investment trust, as the company proceeds with its plan to spin off its skilled-nursing and assisted-living operations.

Executive Chairman Michael D. McKee will add the CEO duties on an interim basis as HCP searches for a permanent successor, a process it expects to take three to six months.

Mr. McKee, who had been independent chairman since 2013, became executive chairman roughly two months ago. Ms. Martin had been CEO since October 2013.

The company expects to post a third-quarter severance charge of 3 cents a share related to Ms. Martin's departure. Analysts, on average, expected the company to post per-share earnings of 38 cents in the September quarter.

In prepared remarks on Monday, Mr. McKee stated that with the completion of its strategic review in May, and the resulting spinoff plan, that HCP's board thinks that "now is the appropriate time to advance the process of developing HCP's next generation of leadership."

HCP, which invests in real estate, has said the spinoff of the HCP ManorCare operations into a separately traded REIT--which remains on track to close later this year--will let HCP focus on its core areas of senior housing and life-science and medical offices.

"We have made substantial progress towards rebuilding our executive team to align with our strategic vision for the future, and identifying our next CEO represents the cornerstone of that effort," Mr. McKee stated.

Last month, Tom Herzog rejoined the REIT as its chief financial officer. He previously had served as HCP's finance chief from 2009 to 2011.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 11, 2016 17:53 ET (21:53 GMT)

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