The 438-room, five-star hotel will continue to be operated byStarwood Hotels and Resorts under its Westin brand. It is locatedin the Ebisu neighborhood in the heart of Tokyo. Starwood currentlymanages several properties owned by Government of SingaporeInvestment 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 pricewas estimated at 50 billion yen, according to published reports. Ifthe reported figures are correct, that would be a 50% return on thecompanies' investment over four years. Officials with bothcompanies could not be reached for comment by press time.

Prior to the sale, affiliates of Starwood Capital and one ofMorgan Stanley's real estate funds each owned a 50% stake in thehotel and the associated operating business, both of which wereincluded in the transaction. During that time, Starwood and MorganStanley embarked on a capital investment program focused onrenovating the property and improving its operations.