By Robbie Whelan 

Ventas Inc. announced Monday that it would spin off 355 skilled nursing facilities and outpatient recovery centers into a new real-estate investment trust, the latest sign of the growing interest in highly specialized medical properties, which carry more risk but have the potential for high returns.

The new company, which isn't yet named, could have a market value of more than $5 billion based on trading multiples for similar companies, said Green Street Advisors, a research firm. Ventas, one of the largest owners of health-care properties, said the spin off would produce annual net income between $315 million and $320 million.

"What we're doing is really creating two REITs that are positioned to deliver outsized growth and results for shareholders," said Debra Cafaro, Ventas chairman and chief executive. "The market is really finally appreciating the value of this asset class."

Skilled nursing and post-acute care facilities are seen as more risky than medical office buildings and senior-living properties because most customers pay for skilled-nursing care using insurance policies and Medicare. Cuts to Medicare and other government-funded insurance programs can divert money from the facilities, said Kevin Tyler, an analyst with Green Street.

But demand for such facilities is rising as private insurers push patients to use skilled nursing facilities and outpatient facilities as an alternative to costly, prolonged hospital stays. As a result, larger companies are buying up such facilities, leading to more consolidation. "Broadly speaking, I think we're seeing skilled nursing going from a fragmented private market to a consolidated public market," Mr. Tyler said.

In October, Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. agreed to buy competitor Aviv REIT Inc. for $1.65 billion, creating the largest REIT focused solely on skilled nursing properties.

According to Green Street, buyers of skilled-nursing home assets are putting them in separate companies due to the high valuation the market has assigned to such properties. Omega's shares, which have risen nearly 20% in the last six months, trade at a premium of 60% to the value of the company's underlying assets. By comparison, shares of Ventas were trading at a 20% premium to their net asset value as of last week, while most REITs are currently trading at a premium of about 5%.

Overall, REITs that specialize in health care properties produced total returns of 35.5% last year, including dividends, making them the second-best performing real estate sector after apartments.

The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, a Maryland nonprofit that tracks investment in the medical real estate sector, reported that sales transactions involving senior housing and nursing care facilities rose 17.4% between 2013 and 2014, from $14.8 billion to $17.4 billion. Last year's deals in the sector amount to nearly six times the annual dollar amount of deals in the first years of the downturn in 2008 and 2009.

REIT executives and analysts say that partnerships between large REITs and smaller operators of senior care and nursing facilities are becoming more common.

In August, Health Care REIT Inc., with a market value of $27 billion the largest REIT focused on medical properties, announced a partnership with Mainstreet Property Group, which develops senior housing properties and post-acute care centers, where patients receive treatment and live-in buildings that resemble hotels, complete with private rooms and even high-end dining facilities, after surgeries and other hospital procedures.

Under the deal the two companies struck, Mainstreet will complete construction of 62 post-acute and assisted living facilities using loans from Health Care REIT, which will retain exclusive rights to buy the portfolio, worth an estimated $1.4 billion, once it is built.

"Inpatient care at hospitals is becoming less and less relevant," said Scott Brinker, Health Care REIT's chief investment officer. "When we're talking about an older person who has just had knee surgery, for example, and needs to recover for 20 days or so, that recovery is happening in a post-acute facility, rather than in a hospital. There's been a significant increase in demand for that. Consumers want it, the payers want it, the providers want it. It's a huge opportunity for growth."

Despite the growing interest in skilled nursing and post-acute care centers, Ventas is still betting big on hospitals. Unrelated to the spinoff, Ventas on Monday also announced it would buy hospital operator Ardent Medical Services Inc. for $1.75 billion in cash. Ms. Cafaro said hospitals are still "at the top of the food chain in the health care business," and benefiting from an influx of newly-insured patients.

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com

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