Supermarket chain Asda has entered a sale and leaseback transaction for 10 supermarkets with real estate investment company Supermarket REIT Income for £196m.

The deal will see 10 omnichannel Asda store with an average internal area of 78,000 sq. ft. in locationd that generate high sales volumes.

The supermarkets are being acquired as a 25-year lease, with annual CPI-linked rent reviews which are subject to a 4% cap and 1% floor and low, affordable rents with an average of £19.90 per sq. ft.

Rob Abraham, CEO of Supermarket Income REIT, said: “These transactions further demonstrate our ability to deliver on our strategy, as we continue to successfully drive returns for our shareholders.

“Working closely with Blue Owl, we are pleased to have increased the scale of the JV through the addition of these top quartile Asda stores and the expected transfer of five existing stores.”

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Abraham added: “Looking ahead, we have further financing capacity to scale both our business and the JV portfolio.

“All of our activity over the last nine months has been focused on delivering earnings growth for our investors, and I look forward to updating the market on our progress, as we continue to focus on investing in mission-critical grocery real estate to deliver a fully covered and growing dividend.”

The news about the sale and leaseback plan first surfaced in May, as Asda executes a plan to raise around £400m from 20 supermarkets to help fund its turnaround plan.