Elaine Watson Bosses at United Co-op and Yorkshire Co-op have given the thumbs up to a merger that will create the second largest co-op in the country and a major new force in food retail. If members back the deal, the new society could come into force as early as September 8 under the title, United Co-operatives. With United chief executive Martin Beaumont about to move to the top job at The Co-operative Group (The Grocer, May 18), the way is clear for Yorkshire Co-op ceo Peter Marks to take the helm. United Co-op secretary Philip Jones will become secretary. Marks told The Grocer: "There are significant business synergies from this deal in IT, shop fitting costs and distribution, and the beauty of it is there are no staff casualties. "The new organisation will be decentralised and we have no plans to get rid of our respective head offices." Both societies have been very acquisitive in recent years and the merger will present greater opportunities to expand, said Marks. "We can speed up, be more aggressive." Given Yorkshire currently uses third parties for chilled and frozen distribution, there could be opportunities further down the line to bring this in house through a tie-up with United's temperature controlled subsidiary Norpak. The combined food business will be a "significant force in the convenience sector" with 456 stores across Yorkshire, Lancashire, North Midlands and North Wales, and sales topping £700m, said Marks. Both societies have been pumping cash into refurbishing their convenience estates in recent years. {{NEWS }}

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