Marc Andreessen, the entrepreneur turned technology investor, has recently been caught in the verbal cross hairs of the activist investor Carl C. Icahn, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the DealBook column. The war of words stems from Mr. Icahn’s campaign to pressure eBay, the online auction company, to spin off its electronic payment unit PayPal. Among other things, he has accused Mr. Andreessen, an eBay board member, of various conflicts of interest that affected eBay’s sale of Skype in 2009 for $2.75 billion to a group of investors that included Mr. Andreessen’s venture capital firm.
The investor group’s decision to turn around and sell Skype for $8.5 billion to Microsoft less than two years after it acquired the company has been the fuel for Mr. Icahn’s fire. He claims that eBay was pressured to sell Skype by Mr. Andreessen, who knew Microsoft was waiting to scoop up the asset at a much higher price. “Sadly, the debate over Mr. Andreessen’s role is obscuring a larger and more important debate: Should PayPal continue to be part of eBay, or would it be more successful separately?†Mr. Sorkin writes.
He adds: “Whatever the right answer about whether eBay and PayPal should remain together or be separated, there are valid arguments on both sides. Perhaps a breakup is inevitable over the long term. In the meantime, let’s keep the debates on the facts.â€
PUERTO RICO GETS A BREAK WITH RATES Â |Â The sun may finally be shining on Puerto Rico. The island is expected to sell roughly $3 billion in bonds on Tuesday at interest rates that are considerably lower than many investors in the municipal market had expected, Michael Corkery and Mary Williams Walsh write in DealBook. The tax-exempt debt is expected to be sold with yields from 8.62 to 8.87 percent, according to preliminary pricing documents circulated in the bond market on Monday.
Investors say the lower yields are being driven by a number of factors, including a recent flow of investments in mutual funds that are large buyers of municipal bonds, Puerto Rico’s progress in closing its chronic budget gap, its improved financial disclosures and a general sense of relief that the commonwealth still has access to the debt market. But even as Puerto Rico prepares fresh funds, its fiscal agent, the Government Development Bank, has hired an affiliate of a well-known restructuring firm, raising concerns among some investors that the island is weighing a revamping of its existing debt load.
Mr. Corkery and Ms. Walsh write: “At the moment, plenty of investors appear to be willing to look past the specter of a revamping as well as Puerto Rico’s current liquidity issues. They are betting that the $3 billion in new debt â€" one of the commonwealth’s largest bond sales in recent memory â€" will buy Puerto Rico the time it needs to turn around an economy that has been in a painful recession since 2006.â€
TOP BANANA  | Chiquita Brands International is about to become the king of bananas. In an all-stock deal announced on Monday, Chiquita said it would pay about $526 million to acquire the Irish fruit company Fyffes, a move that would catapult Chiquita ahead of the Dole Food Company and make it the world’s largest banana company, David Gelles and Stephanie Strom write in DealBook. The combined company will be named ChiquitaFyffes and will have about $4.6 billion in annual revenue.
Chiquita shareholders will own about 51 percent of the new company, but ChiquitaFyffes will be based in Ireland. Because the deal involves an American company taking over a foreign target and changing its domicile, it represents the latest so-called corporate inversion, Mr. Gelles and Ms. Strom write. Though the companies said that there were few anticipated tax savings as a result of the deal, the decision to locate the combined company in Ireland was nevertheless made with an eye on potential long-term tax advantages, they add. The companies said they believe the deal would close by the end of 2014.
ON THE AGENDA  | The January Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report is released at 10 a.m. The wholesale trade report for January is out at 10 a.m. The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on capital regulations for insurers at 10 a.m. The United States Energy Information Administration releases its short-term energy outlook at noon. Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, is on CNBC at 11 a.m. The activist investor William A. Ackman holds a conference call on Herbalife’s business in China at 2 p.m. European Union finance officials and central bankers gather in Brussels to discuss final rules for a new mechanism for winding down failing banks.
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BIG BID PLANNED FOR GATES GLOBAL  | In what would be one of the largest private equity buyouts of the year, the Blackstone Group and TPG Capital are said to be joining forces in a planned $5.5 billion bid for Gates Global, a maker of industrial and automotive parts, William Alden writes in DealBook. The deadline to bid for Gates Global is Wednesday, and no other bids are expected. The offer comes less than a week after Cerberus’s buyout of the grocery chain Safeway, which was worth more than $9 billion.
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Celebrating Its Deal, Serena Software Takes a Cue From Ellen  | Inspired by Ellen DeGeneres’s star-packed selfie at the Academy Awards, the managers of Serena Software took a picture of themselves along with executives from their new owner, the investment firm HGGC, and posted it to Twitter. TWITTER
SoftBank Still Keen to Merge Sprint and T-Mobile  | SoftBank of Japan is still trying to buy T-Mobile US and merge it with SoftBank’s American wireless carrier Sprint, even though regulators in the United States appear set against the deal. “We have to give it a shot,†Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank, said in an interview with the television show host Charlie Rose. NEW YORK TIMES
Priceline Buys Ad-Targeting Firm for $3 Million  | Priceline has acquired the Israeli start-up Qlika, which helps marketers customize and target advertisements, for about $3 million in cash, ReCode writes. RECODE
‘Young Money’ Optioned for Television Show  | Fox Television Studios is said to have purchased the rights to Kevin Roose’s new book, “Young Money,†about the hidden world of young Wall Street recruits after the financial crisis, Business Insider writes, citing an unidentified person familiar with the situation. BUSINESS INSIDER
R.B.C. Ruling Provides Lesson for Banks  | A judge’s ruling last week against the Royal Bank of Canada over the lender’s advice in the 2011 buyout of Rural/Metro Corporation, an ambulance operator, offers a lesson to investment bankers on how not to conduct mergers and acquisitions, Bloomberg View writes. BLOOMBERG VIEW
Wells Fargo Reverses Ban on Peer-to-Peer Lending  | Wells Fargo, the largest American bank by market value, said it had dropped a ban on its employees making loans with their own money on peer-to-peer platforms, The Financial Times reports. FINANCIAL TIMES
Chobani Considering Sale of Minority Stake  | The Greek yogurt maker Chobani is looking to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value the company at about $2.5 billion, Reuters writes, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The company is speaking to consumer companies and private equity firms to assess their interest. REUTERS
Permira Explores New York Listing of Japanese Agricultural Chemicals Business  | The London private equity firm Permira is discussing an initial public offering of Arysta LifeScience, a Japanese agricultural chemicals company, Reuters reports. The I.P.O. is expected to value Arysta at $4 billion including debt. REUTERS
Insight Venture Nears Deal for Proxy Advisory Firm  | The private equity firm Insight Venture Partners is said to be closing in on a deal for the proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, The Wall Street Journal writes, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Warburg Pincus Looks to Sell Software Firm  | The private equity firm Warburg Pincus is seeking a buyer for iParadigms, an education software maker, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The company is estimated to earn about $50 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and could be valued at 15 times that amount. REUTERS
Former Olympian’s Hedge Fund Has Worst Month in Years  | The $1.5 billion hedge fund Balestra Capital Partners, which was founded by the former Olympic fencer Jim Melcher, lost 6 percent last month after placing bullish bets on Japanese stocks and against the yen, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Virtu Plans $100 Million I.P.O. Â |Â The trading firm Virtu Financial, which is backed by the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, is planning to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering, though the company said the I.P.O. price was only an estimate for calculating the registration fee with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reuters writes. REUTERS
Restaurant Chain Zoe’s Kitchen Files I.P.O.  | Zoe’s Kitchen, which offers Mediterranean-style food, is looking to raise up to $80.5 million in an initial public offering, Reuters writes. The company, based in Alabama, is backed by the private equity firm Brentwood Associates. REUTERS
RadiumOne Said to Be Preparing I.P.O. Â |Â The online advertising network RadiumOne is in the final stages of preparations for its initial public offering, Bloomberg Businessweek reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
Box May Go Public Before Dropbox  | Quartz is reporting that the digital storage company Box might go public before its competitor Dropbox. The initial public offerings of both companies have been highly anticipated in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. QUARTZ
OwnCloud Raises $6.3 Million  | OwnCloud, a company that gives businesses control over data storage, has raised $6.3 million in Series A funding led by Devonshire Investors and General Catalyst Partners, The Wall Street Journal reports. The new funding brings the company’s total to $10.1 million. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Spritz Closes $3.5 Million Seed Funding Round  | Spritz, a start-up that is developing speed-reading technology, is in the process of closing a $3.54 million seed funding round, TechCrunch reports. TECHCRUNCH
Bitcoin A.T.M.’s Are on the Way  | There are at least three companies currently making A.T.M.’s for Bitcoin, leading some Bitcoin aficionados to predict that the machines will one day be ubiquitous, The Verge writes. THE VERGE
Snowden Urges Tech Industry to Protect Customers  | Edward J. Snowden discussed spying by the National Security Agency via videoconference at the South by Southwest conference, and told attendees that they were “the folks who can fix this,†the Bits blog writes. NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Russian Oligarchs Fear Economic Casualties if Ukraine Crisis Escalates  | Business titans face the prospect of losing access to Western finance if the United States and Europe carry out threats of tougher sanctions against Moscow, The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in the U.S. Â |Â The Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which filed for bankruptcy in Japan last month, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States to stop customers from seeking cash it is holding in American bank accounts, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
