In the booming world of private equity, February 2007 was looking very much like Blackstone’s month. On the 9th, the US buy-out group closed a deal to buy Equity Office Properties, the commercial property group, for $38.9bn – allowing Blackstone and its chief, Steve Schwarzman, to snatch the title for the largest buy-out on record from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

A few days later, on the 13th, Mr Schwarzman celebrated his 60th birthday which featured a lavish, multi-million-dollar party at the Park Avenue Armory featuring entertainment by Rod Stewart. Fortune magazine has described Mr Schwarzman as “the new king of Wall Street”.