Equity Office Properties' (NYSE:EOP) future remains uncertain after private equity groups and competitors continue to circle the largest commercial renter in the U.S. CNBC reported today that a consortium consisting of Vornado (NYSE:VNO), Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital, and Leon Bluhm's Walton Street Capital are planning to make an acquisition bid within the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Financial Times is reporting that Cerberus Capital Management dropped out of the consortium dropped out after a weekend of talks but could still come back at a later stage, although that is not likely. Many others familiar with the situation said the enormous amount of liquidity in the marketplace meant another investor could still be found to replace Cerberus. This stock is definitely one worth watching closely as the February 18th deadline for additional bids draws closer. The current offer from Blackstone stands at $48.50 per share, while the stock trades at $50.69, up 1.69% in today's trading.

Equity Office Properties Trust (Equity Office) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and manages of office properties. At December 31, 2005, Equity Office owned buildings in 22 markets and 101 submarkets, including its 17 core markets, which are Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Oakland/East Bay, Orange County, New York, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Stamford and Washington, D.C. Equity Office owns substantially all of its assets and conducts substantially all its operations through EOP Operating Limited Partnership (EOP Partnership). As of December 31, 2005, Equity Office owned 89.7% of EOP Partnership through its ownership of partnership units in EOP Partnership.

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IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) moved up $2.59, or 2%, to $131.78 today after conflicting analyst reports put pressure on the stock. The ordeal began when Wachovia downgraded ICE from "outperform" to "market perform", citing a stock priced with high expectations which could disappoint and lead the stock down in the near term. However the firm also raised their 2007 and 2008 estimates to $3.37 and $4.50 per share, accounting for full accretion of the NYBOT deal and far more robust oil futures trading. All in all, Wachovia believes the shares should trade between $135 and $140, or 29-30x 2008 earnings estimate. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs retains a more optimistic outlook saying that the market continues to underestimate the growth potential of the exchanges volumes. The firm set their new 2008 earnings estimates at $5.50, which is 43% above consensus and 10% above the next highest estimate. Moreover, GS believes that the risk reward trade-off remains favorable on ICE, with a 2:1 ratio of upside to downside based on bull case 2008 EPS of $7.00 and bear case EPS of $3.85. Consequently, the firm said that it believes the shares should trade around $165, or 30x its 2008 estimates.

Both of these analysts make good point: Oil contract volume has been on the increase during the past few weeks as hedge funds have embraced short trades after OPEC failed to react to a $50/barrel price point. This, combined with strong existing futures volumes, should help ICE's EPS significantly. However, many are quick to note that there also may be some downside pressure on Friday after trading restrictions are lifted for NYBOT insiders. Whether or not the stock will reach $160 remains to be seen; however, this is definitely a stock worth watching over the next few months.

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Encore Acquisition Company (NYSE:EAC) moved up $1.15, or 5.13%, to $23.70 today after the company announced that it would offer shares of its limited partnership interests in an initial public offering. The new entity is expected to own certain Wyoming oil and natural gas properties to be acquired from subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and certain legacy oil and gas properties currently owned by Encore. This acquisition of Anadarko properties is valued at $400 million to be paid in cash, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. Encore said that the net proceeds from the initial public offering are expected to be used to repay indebtedness incurred in connection with the acquired properties.

Encore Acquisition Company (Encore) is an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, development, exploitation, exploration and production of onshore North American oil and natural gas reserves. The Company's properties and oil and natural gas reserves are located in four core areas: the Cedar Creek Anticline (CCA) in the Williston Basin of Montana and North Dakota; the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico; the Mid-Continent area, which includes the Arkoma and Anadarko Basins of Oklahoma, the North Louisiana Salt Basin, the East Texas Basin and the Barnett Shale of north Texas, and the Rockies, which includes non-CCA assets in the Williston and Powder River Basins of Montana and North Dakota, and the Paradox Basin of southeastern Utah.

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