Mr. Trump currently owns 51 percent of the Plaza. The rest is owned by the banks, which obtained their interest from Mr. Trump three years ago in exchange for a substantial reduction in his bank debt. Mr. Wallach said those involved hoped to complete the deal by summer.

Mr. Trump bought the Plaza during the real estate boom of the 1980's, using borrowed money. Additional debt was piled on the property over the next couple of years as he leveraged the landmark to buy the Eastern Airlines shuttle and to help pay the construction cost of his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.

By 1992, the weight of the recession that hit New York City after the stock market crash in 1987 and the collapse in real estate prices had taken a heavy toll on Mr. Trump's finances. Negotiations began to rework some $560 million in debt.

After the Citibank consortium agreed to forgive the past interest payments on debt, Mr. Trump still retained the 51 percent interest on paper, but since he had no equity in the hotel -- having put up no cash when he bought it -- the banks effectively owned the property. The banks have been trying to find a buyer for the last three years.

Negotiations between CDL and Mr. Trump began last fall. In February, the Prince visited the hotel and expressed an interest.

Along with Mr. Kwek and the Prince, Mr. Trump will be a member of a management committee and "will have responsibility for setting policy at the hotel," the announcement in Singapore said. But day-to-day operations will be handled by Fairmont Hotel Management, the San Francisco-based concern in which the Prince is half-owner.

Designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, the architect whose works include the Dakota apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the Plaza has long been as much institution as hotel. Overlooking Grand Army Plaza and Central Park South, the 19-story French Renaissance structure has played host to billionaires, heads of state, artists and dreams.