A detailed but unattributed perspective on the breakdown in negotiations between the Bermuda Cement Company and Government was being promoted on a Bermuda news website late yesterday, stating that a Government offer of $250,000 was made earlier this week to buy the equipment and supplies at the Dockyard facility.

An official Government statement on the situation is expected to be made at a press conference this morning.

According to the unattributed report, which is promoted as a "statement of fact" on the Bermuda Network News website, a refusal by the cement company to follow through with a previously agreed undertaking that shareholders opposed to new lease conditions — which required building a new cement facility — sell their shares to shareholders who accepted the terms, was the trigger that led to Wedco informing the company it must vacate the site when its temporary lease expired on December 31.

Government made an undisclosed offer to buy the company's equipment and supplies on Tuesday this week.

According to the web report that was an offer of $250,000 reflecting the value placed on equipment and supplies during discussions between Wedco and the company the previous week.

On Wednesday this week cement company president Jim Butterfield told The Royal Gazette that a fair value asking price for the company as a going-concern would be $1 million, dependent on the ability of any new owner to agree a lease extension with Wedco.