Winter-Cookson Petty, Ltd. (WCP).

In the the industry's biggest consolidation, WCP is selling their business lines to import leader, Butterfield & Val lis.

But WCP said yesterday of the redundancies, "a number of these 17 people could still be taken (on), as further developments occur.'' Seven staff found alternative employment, six of whom have already left, leaving temporary staff shortages.

This spring, Bermuda will begin trusting the importation of the majority of its foodstuffs through one firm that has been in business for nearly eight decades -- Butterfield & Co. began in 1922.

As reported in The Royal Gazette in February, the deal has been in the works for some two months.

About 25 to 30 of the staff will begin working for Butterfield & Vallis, many others have found alternative employment and still others face some degree of uncertainty, at present. The sale also involves the transfer of nine of the 11-vehicle fleet of WCP trucks.

The raw parametres of the accord were hammered out during last month, but many of the details remain unclear. Butterfield & Vallis, which currently employs about 130 people, will grow to between 150 and 160 staff.

President of Butterfield & Vallis, Jim Butterfield, said his firm will make a down-payment May 1 for the purchase of the inventory, but is likely to spend between $500,000 and $1 million in addition to the purchase price, to make necessary changes to accommodate the extra business load. The purchase price for the business has not been disclosed.

But improvement to computer systems, the purchase of new equipment, the acquisition of WCP trucks and the furnishing of office space for incoming sales people will cost at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Butterfield said, "It has been a big investment for us, separate from the deal itself, to get prepared to provide the service. We've had to do an awful lot of stuff.'' President of WCP, Keith Winter, said the firm is starting the process of working closely with the Employees Assistance Programme, the Government Employment Office and the Labour Training Department to assist identified employees in seeking new positions.

Mr. Winter said, "We are hopeful that every person will have employment by the time the deadline approaches or shortly thereafter.

"Winter-Cookson, Petty, Ltd. will be winding down for two months from May 1 and, as a consequence, some of our staff will be staying on to assist during that period.'' Meanwhile, the roughly 40 WCP shareholders, many from families who have been in the business for more than 50 years, are about to embark on other pursuits.

They were forced out by pure economics.

Mr. Winter noted: "We were faced with the prospect of investing up to a million and a half dollars in the plant to build a new freezer, put in a computer system and increase our dry storage space.

"The directors looked at it, and the return just didn't look like it would be there. And there is direct competition coming in from overseas suppliers now, so we were fighting an uphill battle. Hotels and supermarkets have been importing directly themselves.

"To remain competitive, for us it would have meant a million and a half and maybe more than that.'' Good progress has been made by WCP in an attempt to sell off its Pembroke real estate, and other items, not involved in the Butterfield & Vallis deal. Odds and ends include two trucks, forklifts and other loading equipment.

Importer employees face cuts WCP's St. John's Road property, which contained its merchandising building on one-third of an acre, is about to be sold. That sale closes mid-May. And there are two serious offers for the main building on an acre of property on Serpentine Road.

Winter-Cookson, Petty has been responsible for several hundred lines of food products through somewhere between 50 and 80 overseas distributors. Almost all will be transferred to Butterfield & Vallis.

Ten of the largest suppliers have already flown to Bermuda to investigate their new representatives, and appear satisfied.

Butterfield & Vallis will truck the acquired inventory directly to their own warehouses, with the consumer products or grocery store items going to Orange Valley (100,000 square feet), while the food service items, which are used to supply hotels and restaurants, going to their Woodlands Road warehouse.

Mr. Butterfield said yesterday: "Consolidation is the name of the game, from insurance to real estate to banking to food. We are looking at this as a big deal. But it's not like this week's Citicorp and Travelers -- a multi-billion dollar deal.''