How high will this go? The private equity world has been riveted by the battle between The Blackstone Group and a group led by the Vornado Realty Trust for Equities Office Properties Trust. The bidding has topped the record for the largest buyout ever. It's not often that we get a bona fide bidding war, and this one is being relished. The latest: Blackstone upped its bid to $54 a share in cash, valuing the deal at $38.3 billion if you add debt (some people of course do not count assumed debt in these calculations). That tops Vornado's latest bid was $52 a share. The industry benefits because it suggests to regulators that there is competition, despite the club deals we've seen lately. So there's good news all around. No one would be surprised if the bidding went even higher. Likewise, I wouldn't be surprised at all if an even bigger deal were to emerge later this year. RJR Nabsico seems so passé.

For more:
- here's a New York Times article
- here's an update from MarketWatch