Blackstone takes Equity Office private (2007)
Blackstone bought Sam Zell's Equity Office Properties for about $39 billion including debt, then the largest leveraged buyout ever. A leveraged buyout uses borrowed money to fund most of the purchase.
Blackstone quickly flipped many buildings to other buyers near the market peak.
The deal is now cited as a top-of-cycle signal, closing just before the 2008 property crash.
Zell also founded Equity Residential, and his firms' mega-deals raise the same question hanging over Vivmark: is a record deal a peak signal?
