Slough Estates has signed a sale-and-leaseback agreement with European communications distribution giant Antalis worth €103m (£69m)

As part of the transaction, which was announced today, Antalis will take leases on 1.9m sq ft (177,120 sq m) of its warehouses in eight large European cities. Slough will take over the freeholds.

These are in Lyon and Paris in France, Brussels in Belgium, Bologna and Parma in Italy, Madrid and Valencia in Spain, Berlin and Leipzig in Germany, as well as in Switzerland, Portugal and Finland. The sites cover 101 acres (41 ha).

Antalis has an average of seven and a half years to run on its leases.

The pair have also signed an agreement that will see Slough Estates developing extensions and new developments for Antalis in the future.

Ian Coull, chief executive at Slough Estates, said: ‘This agreement further reinforces our strategy of developing our continental European portfolio and in particular gives us an entry into the strategically important markets of Italy and Spain.’