to buy the troubled St. George's Club timeshare complex.

But the deal is not expected to be completed for at least a few months while minor details are ironed out.

The major hold up will be a wait for Government approval for the transfer of various licences and a lease on the site.

Mr. Richard Kempe, a partner in Gray and Kempe, which represents Price Waterhouse in Bermuda, said: "At this time, we believe we may have a purchaser.

"We have a letter of intent and the prospective purchaser is to carry out due diligence before signing a purchase and sales agreement.

"We're trying to conclude the deal as quickly as possible but the time frame we're talking about is perhaps a few months.'' Mr. Kempe would not disclose the name of the prospective buyer, nor reveal the size of the accepted bid.

But the interested party is thought to be the same "well-known North American hotelier'' who has been negotiating to buy the property for several months.

The plush 65-unit St. George's Club was put into receivership in October by its principal secured creditor, Central Guaranty Trust Company (CGTC), of Canada, and immediately put up for sale.

The Club has a total debt of $79 million, $70 million of which is internal with the financially broke York-Hannover group of property companies to which it belonged.

CGTC called in the receivers when York-Hannover, which is being investigated by police all over the world, failed to meet repayments on a $9- million loan which was arranged in 1990.

Mr. Kempe said there was "little interest'' among potential buyers when the complex was put on the market just over two months ago.

He declined to comment whether the offer which has been accepted was the only one which came in.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kempe stressed that the St. George's Club was operating normally.

But he has not been able to appease the timeshare owners representative body, the Members' Advisory Council (MAC), which in the past has accused York-Hannover of breaching timeshare regulations.

Although Mr. Kempe had met with the MAC boss Mr. Jim Stewart, not all the problems have been ironed out.

"MAC has expressed displeasure on a number of things,'' said Mr. Kempe.

"Unfortunately, I'm not able to give them the assurances they want.'' RICHARD KEMPE: Time frame for the deal is `perhaps a few months'.