Northwood Investors, a real estate investment advisory company, has signed a contract to acquire The New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan, New York, US, for $400m from an affiliate of the Brunei Investment Agency.

The agency, a partnership owned by the family of the Sultan of Brunei, bought the hotel, then known as the Helmsley Palace, for $200m in 1993.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the middle of July 2011, according to Bloomberg.

The 899-room hotel opened in 1980 as the Helmsley Palace and is managed by the Dorchester Collection.