Westin Tokyo Hotel Fetches $741M

TOKYO-GIC Real Estate, the property investment arm of the government of Singapore, has purchased the Westin Tokyo from Starwood Capital Group Global and Morgan Stanley Capital K.K. None of the parties would disclose the price; however, the deal is rumored to be between $717 million and $741 million as estimates have ranged from 77 billion yen and 80 billion yen.

The 438-room, five-star hotel will continue to be operated by Starwood Hotels and Resorts under its Westin brand. It is located in the Ebisu neighborhood in the heart of Tokyo. Starwood currently manages several properties owned by Government of Singapore Investment Corp., including the Westin Sydney and Westin Paris.

Morgan Stanley and Starwood purchased the Tokyo Westin in Dec. 2004 from Japanese brewer Sapporo Holdings. At the time, the price was estimated at 50 billion yen, according to published reports. If the reported figures are correct, that would be a 50% return on the companies’ investment over four years. Officials with both companies could not be reached for comment by press time.