Bermudian businessman Patrick Bean has made a short-list of two companies looking to develop the closed Club Med complex in St. George's, it was confirmed yesterday.

Mr. Bean, who has complained Government is dragging its feet over making a decision about Club Med, threatened to pull out last Friday unless he received an answer.

Tourism Minister Renee Webb said yesterday that Mr. Bean, who is in partnership with SteppingRock Developments of Dallas, was one of two companies being looked at by Cabinet's hotel development sub-committee.

Last Thursday Mr. Bean was interviewed by the Mid-Ocean News for a story appearing on Friday in which he said: “I shall be pulling the application tomorrow if I don't get anything in writing by 3 p.m. tomorrow and that is my final decision.”

Ms Webb said that Mr. Bean now claims he was misquoted - which drew derisive laughs from journalists at the conference.

Ms Webb said Mr. Bean's proposal was being looked at very seriously because he was a Bermudian, although she said Government would not promote mediocre projects simply because they were being run by Bermudians.

Ms Webb said: “The technical committee looked at all the respondees and what they were proposing, but also in the context of the infrastructure, the context of the economy, and is it the type of business we want.

Mr. Bean and SteppingRock are planning to build a 110 bedroom hotel, 60 homes, and centre to rehabilitate injured sportsmen and drug addicts.