The chief executive of United Co-operatives today insisted he was "absolutely serious" about his company's interest in making a bid for supermarket group Somerfield.

The society, which owns a string of convenience stores across the district, has formally announced that it has contacted the board of Somerfield exploring the possibility of tabling an offer.

It would be clearly the biggest deal in the history of United which was formed from the merger of Bradford-based Yorkshire Co-operatives and United Norwest in 2002.

United, which has interests in a variety of retail sectors, currently has about 500 stores whereas Somerfield has 1,250.

But chief executive Peter Marks, who lives in Bingley, said he had no fear about going head-to-head with a number of consortia which have already expressed an interest in tabling a bid. Major retailers including Asda and Iceland-owner Big Food Group are among parties connected with the consortia.

Mr Marks, who last year spearheaded an "aggressive" £100 million spending spree for acquisitions, said the deal made a lot of sense.

"Their business strategy is almost identical to ours in that they centre on convenience stores with an emphasis on fresh foods and they sit at the heart of communities," he told the Telegraph & Argus.

"The only difference between them and us is their size. And that is really not an issue because we can cope with that both managerially and financially.

"We have done a lot of work on this. We have thought about it a lot. And we are serious - it is not just a passing fancy."

Georgina Mitchell, a stockbroker at Redmayne-Bentley in Leeds, said United would expect to have to pay more than £1 billion for Somerfield.

She said it was likely a bid by any of the potential buyers would spark a major scramble for the company.

But Mr Marks said he did not fear the competition.

"You have to go back to our aim and our business goal which is to be the best neighbourhood retailer in the UK," he said. "This helps us to achieve that long-term goal. And perhaps we would achieve it a little earlier than we anticipated.

"We know there are other interested parties but we have the ability to complete this deal. It is a statement of how far we have come in the last few years. I think we have already surprised a few people."

United, which employs 15,500 staff, is the UK's biggest independent co-operative society with annual sales of £1.9 billion and trading profits of £50 million. Its other businesses include the Bradford-based Sunwin Motor Group.