In a deal likely to be completed late this month, Singapore's largest sovereign wealth fund will buy both the land and the building of the Westin Tokyo, located in the city's central Ebisu district, the newspaper said.

The hotel is expected to carry on its operations as GIC, which invests Singapore's foreign exchange reserves, tries to boost its value as a long-term investment, the paper added.

Singapore government funds have been acquiring stakes in Western financial institutions, taking advantage of the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States.

GIC, which manages well over $100 billion (S$144 billion), bought in January $6.88 billion (S$9.74 billion) worth of Citigroup convertible stock or around a 4 per cent stake, just one month after it injected nearly $9.75 billion in UBS to purchase a 9 per cent stake.

A real estate fund managed by Morgan Stanley bought the Westin Tokyo from a Japanese beer company in 2004 for about 50 billion yen, the Nikkei said. -- REUTERS