Property investment and management company Land Securities has acquired 30 hotels from French giant Accor in a sale and leaseback deal worth £439m.

The deal will see Land Securities obtain 5,000 rooms operated under the Ibis and Novotel brands with most of the hotels being based in city centres across the UK – including 10 in London.

Accor will continue to operate the hotels under 12-year leases, which are renewable six times up to a total of 84 years.

Ian Ellis, chief executive of Land Securities, said the company had earmarked an additional £35m for property improvement works on the newly acquired portfolio over the next four years.

Ellis said: “This acquisition represents the first step in the development of a long-term relationship with Accor as its UK property partner and we intend to help them to achieve their core objective of expanding their share of the UK hotels market.

According to Jacques Stern, chief financial officer of Accor, the deal will allow the company to reduce its adjusted net debt by around £391m.

“This deal will both allow us to accelerate our expansion plan in the UK as well as de-risk our operational structure by moving to a fully variable lease arrangement.”

Accor currently owns and operates 4,000 hotels in more than 90 countries.

The deal is seen as Land Securities’ first significant deal in the hotel sector since it sold the Park Lane Hilton in London to a private investor for £155m in 2002.