(Bloomberg News) The Manhattan duplex owned by Brooke Astor, the late philanthropist and socialite, sold for $21 million, less than half of its original asking price.

The buyers of the five-bedroom co-op at 778 Park Ave. were Daniel and Brett Sundheim, according to property records filed yesterday with New York City's Department of Finance. Daniel Sundheim is a portfolio manager at New York-based hedge fund Viking Global Investors LP.

The apartment, which has six terraces and five fireplaces, occupies the building's entire 16th floor and part of the 15th, according to the property listing on brokerage Stribling & Associates's website. The original asking price of $46 million in May 2008 was cut three times before the sale, real estate listings website StreetEasy.com shows.

The apartment reflects Astor's "remarkable and renowned personal style," Stribling said in the listing. "The Astor residence is exactly what it should be: the architectural reflection of a grand life well lived."

Astor, as president of the Vincent Astor Foundation from 1959 to 1997, gave away more than $195 million to libraries, museums, hospitals, homeless shelters and community programs, according to a tribute on the website of the New York Community Trust. She died in 2007.

"For 38 years, Brooke Astor was New York City's fairy godmother," the group said.

Margaret Furniss and Kirk Henckels of Stribling & Associates represented Astor's estate in the transaction.

Sundheim declined to comment on the purchase.