Butterfield & Vallis yesterday announced it had reached an agreement to take over the food business lines of Winter-Cookson, Petty Ltd.

Some redundancies are possible, company officials said.

Butterfield & Vallis is the largest wholesaler on the Island while Winter-Cookson, Petty Ltd. holds about 20 percent of the market, company vice-president Steven Petty estimated.

"This decision has been made after careful consideration and consultation with financial advisers Ernst & Young in light of the increasingly competitive marketplace that the company operates in and the major capital investment that would be required in the near future to remain competitive,'' company chairman Llewellyn Petty stated in a press release.

The takeover would occur on May 1. Butterfield & Vallis is not paying any purchase price, Mr. Petty said. They will be paying for existing inventory, and will take over the accounts receivable and a "substantial'' number of the 65 staff employed by the company.

Winter-Cookson, Petty Ltd. would be offering its trucks, forklifts, furnishings and other hard assets for sale. The company would also be offering to sell or rent its warehouse property on Serpentine Road.

Winter-Cookson, Petty Ltd. was founded in 1943.

Mr. Petty said Butterfield & Vallis could end up having some conflicts between agencies worried about the same wholesaler carrying competing products.

However, he expressed confidence Butterfield & Vallis would be able to deal with the situation just as it had in similar buyouts previously.

After the takeover Butterfield & Vallis' other major local competitors will be Bermuda General Agency, and Dunkley & Pioneer Dairies Ltd.

Butterfield & Vallis president Jim Butterfield said the market for food distribution will remain competitive in Bermuda "with six strong local competitiors including Viking Foods, and BGA, relentless competition from East Coast distributors, and the direct importation of products by large retailers and hotels''.

Dunkley & Pioneer Dairies has been an up and comer in the field, recently taking over the Nabisco line of goods from Winter-Cookson, Petty Ltd.

Lindo's supermarket managing director Giorgio Zanol said he did not foresee any lessening of the competitive prices from wholesalers due to the proposed consolidation. He said retailers like Lindo's prefer to get their goods through local wholesalers but if prices are too high, they have the option of going overseas.