Cerberus/EOP: Guarding hell’s gates

Blackstone thought it had a special deal with Sam Zell. The private equity firm sealed up a $36bn takeover of the Chicago real estate mogul’s Equity Office Properties investment trust in a matter of days. In return for this stealth, Zell agreed not to auction off the company. But Blackstone may have overlooked the dog with three heads in the corner. Cerberus, the rival private equity firm run by Stephen Feinberg, is now considering financing a rival bid from property funds Starwood Capital and W...