(The Wall Street Journal) -- On the morning of November 12, Cerberus Capital Management chairman Stephen Feinberg summoned bankers for United Rentals to his Park Avenue office to tell them he wanted to renegotiate his company's $4bn buyout of the equipment-rental company. He asked for an audience with the board of United, according to people familiar with the matter, a request that was later denied.

The meeting touched off a chain of events that appears to have killed the July deal and landed the matter in a Delaware court, where United Rentals sued yesterday to compel Cerberus to complete the deal. (Cerberus responded that it is not bound to complete the deal and only has to pay a $100m breakup fee to walk away.) The move surprised both United Rentals shareholders and Cerberus' bankers, who expected the deal to close November 16.