Britain’s Co-operative group has sold its farm businesses to the Wellcome Trust for £249m (€315m). The troubled group needs to cut debt levels and secure the future of the business after reporting losses of £2.5bn (€3.15bn) last year.

The sale includes almost 40,000 acres of land across 15 farms, three packhouses, more than 100 residential properties and 27 commercial properties.

Around 17,000 acres is understood to be freehold owned and was valued in the sale at£186m (€234m), the equivalent of €13,300/acre.

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The group will now focus on their supermarket, funeral home, general insurance and legal service businesses. Last month, they agreed to sell their pharmacies for £620m.

The Wellcome Trust is already one of the biggest landlords in the UK, where it owns property worth £1.8bn including significant agricultural holdings in Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Cheshire.