Apple’s Debt Market Foray

It might not seem that Apple, with a $145 billion cash hoard, would need to raise money. But on Tuesday, the company issued $17 billion of bonds, a record amount, paying interest rates that hovered near those on the low-cost debt of the United States Treasury.

The logic behind Apple’s move has to do with the frenzied state of the bond market, which is allowing companies to issue lots of debt at historically low interest rates. But the maneuver “also reflects the unusual challenges of a fabulously successful company with a sinking stock price,” DealBook’s Peter Lattman and Peter Eavis write. After its shares plummeted from a high last fall of more than $700 to under $400 last month, Apple is borrowing money to help finance a $100 billion payout to shareholders, which it plans to distribute by the end of 2015 in the form of increased dividends and stock buybacks. In addition, “taking on debt can actually magnify the returns for shareholders and improve stock performance, financial specialists say.”

Apple is also avoiding a potential big tax hit. “About two-thirds of Apple’s cash — about $102 billion — sits overseas in lower-tax jurisdictions. If it returned some of that cash to the United States to reward its investors, it could have significant tax consequences for the company.”

The company issued six different securities on Tuesday, ranging from a three-year note yielding 0.45 percent to a 30-year bond that yields 3.85 percent. The largest piece, worth $5.5 billion, is a 10-year yielding 2.4 percent.

BANKS RESIST RULES ON FOREIGN BETS  |  Nearly three years after Congress passed the Dodd-Frank law, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is facing bitter opposition to a proposal, set to go into effect as early as July, to require overseas offices of American-based banks and other institutions to turn over information on foreign trades that involve United States customers or are guaranteed by a financial institution with American ties. In the eyes of banks, these requirements seem redundant and excessive, The New York Times’s Eric Lipton writes.

But Gary Gensler, leader of the commission, argues that too many bad derivatives bets can be traced to overseas locations, including the big trading loss by JPMorgan Chase last year. “It would be letting down the American public if we said, we are just about to complete the task but now, let’s retreat,” Mr. Gensler said in an interview. “If we don’t do this right, we will blow a hole in the bottom of the boat of reform.” Some of the biggest objections have come from foreign regulators, including officials from Britain, Russia, Japan and Germany, The Times writes.

VENTURE CAPITAL’S DIRTY SECRET  |  Every entrepreneur dreams of riches. But that dream “can be dashed as the venture capitalists make millions in a sale, leaving the founders with nothing,” Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column. “A recent Delaware court case arising from the 2011 sale of Bloodhound Technologies illustrates how this happens.” Mr. Davidoff writes: “Venture capital investments are structured to ensure that the venture capitalists are paid before founders and employees,” a requirement that “can sometimes hit founders and employees in a brutal manner.”

ON THE AGENDA  |  Knight Capital, Time Warner and Chesapeake Energy report earnings before the market opens. Facebook and Yelp report results on Wednesday evening. The Federal Reserve releases a decision on interest rates at 2 p.m. The American insurance unit of the Dutch financial services company ING plans to price its initial public offering. Joseph Dear, chief investment officer for Calpers, is on Bloomberg TV at 11:30 a.m.

YAHOO’S DAILYMOTION DEAL FALLS THROUGH  |  It was supposed to be the first big acquisition for Yahoo under its chief executive, Marissa Mayer. But the deal to buy a majority stake in Dailymotion, a French video Web site, ran into trouble after a Yahoo executive met with Arnaud Montebourg, the French industry minister, who said he didn’t like the idea, The Wall Street Journal reports. “I won’t let you sell one of France’s best start-ups,” Mr. Montebourg said, according to the newspaper, which cites people briefed on the meeting. “You don’t know what you’re doing.” Since then, attempts to revive the sale have failed, the newspaper says.

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In Sale of BMC Software, a Bidder Pulls Into the Lead  |  A group made up of Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital “has emerged as the lead contender to buy BMC Software Inc. for more than $6.5 billion, three people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday,” Reuters reports. REUTERS

SoftBank Chief Is Defiant as Dish Challenges His Bid for Sprint  |  After Dish Network’s bold bid to pre-empt Softbank’s $20 billion offer for 70 percent of Sprint Nextel, SoftBank’s chief executive says his proposal will prevail — unmodified. DealBook »

DreamWorks Said to Approach Deal for a YouTube Network  |  DreamWorks Animation “is close to” a deal to acquire AwesomenessTV, which makes YouTube videos geared toward children and teenagers, according to AllThingsD, which cites unidentified people familiar with the proposed transaction. ALLTHINGSD

Gun Maker Sturm Ruger Takes a Look at Freedom Group  |  But the company does not expect to actually bid for the Freedom Group, which is being sold by Cerberus Capital Management. REUTERS

Icahn Increases Stake in Nuance  |  Carl C. Icahn increased his stake in the speech recognition software maker Nuance Communications to 10.72 percent from 9.27 percent. REUTERS

Proxy Advisory Firm Opens Washington Office  |  MacKenzie Partners, a big proxy solicitor firm, announced a new office in Washington. “Over the last few years, there has been a convergence between Wall Street and Washington,” said Dan Burch, the firm’s chairman. NEWS RELEASE

Deutsche Bank’s Shares Rise as Its Leaders Look Past Financial Crisis  |  Deutsche Bank’s stock rose on Tuesday on expectations that a $3.87 billion share sale would clear the way for higher dividend payments. DealBook »

European Banks Show Signs of Health  |  After years of painful job cuts and moves to make portfolios less risky, several large European banks reported strong quarterly results, helped by cost-cutting and better performance of major units. DEALBOOK

In Europe, an Alternative to Bank Lending  |  European banks remain reluctant to lend. “An emerging, if only partial, solution is channeling some of trillions of euros of European pension and insurance savings into more targeted loan funds, unlisted loans, private placements or even direct business financing,” Reuters writes. REUTERS

Onward, Not Upward, for UBS  |  UBS is delivering on its new strategy, but it will need to post a string of decent quarterly results to truly cheer investors, Dominic Elliott of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS

Goldman Finds Success in Malaysia  |  With bond deals for government entities, Goldman Sachs has made more than $200 million in Malaysia in the last two years, The Wall Street Journal says. WALL STREET JOURNAL

Investec, a South African Bank, Hires Head of Financial Markets in Australia  |  Rhys Gwyn was a managing director at Goldman Sachs. WALL STREET JOURNAL

K.K.R. Said to Consider a Role for Petraeus  |  The private equity firm K.K.R. “is in discussions with former Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus about a role at the company, according to a person with knowledge of the talks,” Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS

Canadian Effort Leaves a Sour Taste  |  At the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles, the activist investor Barry Rosenstein of Jana Partners reflected on his failed proxy fight with the Canadian fertilizer maker Agrium, Absolute Return reports. “Will I think twice about going back to Canada? Yeah, I would,” he said. ABSOLUTE RETURN

Tim Hortons Under Pressure From Investor  |  The Canadian chain Tim Hortons faces pressure from the hedge fund Highfields Capital, which has a 1.5 percent stake and wants the company to borrow money to buy back shares, Reuters reports. REUTERS

Seattle Investor Vows to Continue Pursuit of N.B.A. Team  |  A day after the relocation committee of the National Basketball Association rejected a request by the hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and his partners to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle, Mr. Hansen said he was “fully committed to seeing this transaction through.” REUTERS

Opponents to Empire State Building I.P.O. Lose Challenge  |  A judge was not convinced that an I.P.O. for the Empire State Building would be illegal. BLOOMBERG NEWS

Taiwan Pay-TV Company Secures Investors for I.P.O.  |  The commitments make up nearly a third of the planned I.P.O. of Asian Pay Television Trust, which is expected to raise $1.1 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. WALL STREET JOURNAL

Uber Returns, Legally, to New York  |  After being rebuffed by New York City officials last year, Uber said on Tuesday that its service to hail yellow cabs with a smartphone app had been approved for use in the city. NEW YORK TIMES

Investors Focused on Education Form a Partnership  |  NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit that invests in education groups and businesses, is partnering with the Rethink Education Fund, a new venture capital fund, in a relationship that could lead to millions of dollars in additional financing, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES

A Tour of Celebrity Tech Investors  |  “Actors, musicians and athletes are often participating in financing rounds alongside traditional investors,” Katie Roof writes for The Street. THE STREET

Investor Is Likely Pick to Lead F.C.C.  |  Tom Wheeler, a venture capital investor who was a fund-raiser in President Obama’s presidential campaigns, is expected to be nominated on Wednesday as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, two administration officials said, according to The New York Times. Some consumer advocacy groups have “said they were troubled by his background investing in and lobbying for cable and wireless companies.” NEW YORK TIMES

In China, Cash Is King  |  “For all China’s modern trappings — the new superhighways, high-speed rail networks and soaring skyscrapers — analysts say this country still prefers to pay for things the old-fashioned way, with ledgers, bill-counting machines and cold, hard cash,” The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES

Speedy Traders Exploit a Quirk of Commodities Exchange  |  The Wall Street Journal reports: “High-speed traders are using a hidden facet of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s computer system to trade on the direction of the futures market before other investors get the same information.” WALL STREET JOURNAL

Google and Its Auditor to Be Questioned in Britain Over Taxes  |  Google and Ernst & Young will be called again to testify before a British parliamentary committee on the company’s tax practices, Reuters reports. REUTERS