A deal could soon be clinched to sell a Bermuda hotel -- up for sale after a takeover of its British owners.

Earlier this year UK-based leisure and TV group Granada took over the Forte Group -- announcing plans to sell off Forte's hotels which included the Belmont Hotel and Harmony Club.

General manager of Forte Hotels in Bermuda, William Griffith, said negotiations for a sale were on-going.

"We are in a fairly advanced stage of negotiations with an interested party regarding the sale of the Harmony Club,'' added Mr. Griffith, who declined to reveal the identity of the person involved.

Granada bought Forte last January and later announced plans to sell off the hotel arm. The Harmony Club was up for sale before the take-over but the sale continued after the buy-out.

The Paget hotel, which is set on six acres of land and has 71 bedrooms, is considered to be one of Bermuda's eight major hotels.

Mr. Griffith declined to comment if interest in the hotel was from inside or outside Bermuda.

However, when Granada announced it was putting Forte hotels up for sale it was believed as many as six separate buyers could be ready to forge a deal.

Front-runners were thought to be French hotel chain Accor, but the Sultan of Brunei and several Asian companies are were also thought to be looking at bids.

There was also speculation that US buy-out specialists Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts are interested in the whole hotels' portfolio.