Hedging Strategies

2) Minimize the cost associated with the foreign exchange risk management strategy, i.e. the management and hedging costs

Hedging is a significant measure of financial risk management. Since the 1970s, the increasing number of powerful companies started to control the risk of the exchange rate, the interest rate and commodity by using financial derivatives. ISDA (2013) based on the Global 500 Annual Report 2012 survey found that 88 percent of companies use foreign exchange derivatives. Modigliani & Miller (1958) believed that if the financial markets were under perfect conditions, for instance, there was no agency costs, asymmetric information, taxes and transaction costs, hedging would not increase the company 's value because investors can hedge by themselves. However, a large number of practical studies have shown that hedging is beneficial

American Barrick is the largest gold producer in North America. The implementation of the gold-hedging program differentiated the firm from other major gold rivals and improved its reserve and financial strength. In 1995, American Barrick ’s latest gold find necessitated the company to determine a new hedge strategy for its gold production.

The derivatives program was reducing risk when the firm was investing in foreign currency futures for the first four months from the implementation date (February 1991 to May 1991). This is seen by the negative correlation of (0.94226594) between the derivative (futures) cash flow and the unhedged cash flow. A purpose of a perfect hedge is to obtain a net of zero or in other words, reduce your risk to nothing not including the cost of the hedge. If a correlation is negative, as it was for the first three

The current 50% hedging policy executed at the fund level has served well for OTPP for the past ten years, contributing to the fund’s positive returns. The FX Hedge Program not only has minimized the downside risk, but has also limited the upside potential. If OTPP decided not to implement a hedging program in 1996, they would have lost about $983 million CAD over the ten year period (1995-2005) which is valued at 2% of the portfolio. With the hedging program, OTPP was able to reduce the overall loss to about $469 million CAD, but also limited the gain from the depreciation of the pound.(Exhibit 1) Hedging is an excellent short-term risk minimizing strategy for long term investors, sustaining a continual payout of pensions during volatile times in OTPP’s invested currency markets. Currently, approximately 21% of OTPP’s net assets are exposed to foreign currency risk. Consequently, it is essential that OTPP maintain a risk management program of hedging, as slight currency fluctuations can significantly affect the value of the fund. Similarly to continual renewal of swaps, hedging can be a very expensive risk management strategy.

The presentation was scheduled for the first week of December 1990. Mr. Pross outlined the use of various derivatives, noting that they differed widely in their ability to reduce risk. If the company was, say, placing a large bid to buy a building abroad, one might prefer to use foreign currency options to hedge the currency risk in the event the deal fell through. He argued, however, that foreign currency futures were best suited to hedge the fluctuations in revenues arising from currency movements. Mr. Pross proposed a plan to hedge currency risk using futures which

For interest rate hedging strategy, swaps are used to hedge. And most importantly, interest rate swaps are an agreement between two counterparties exchanging one stream of future interest payments for another. Interest rate swaps can exchange a fixed payment for a floating payment or vice versa. We can also hedge against commodity price risk where this involves purchase of a futures contract, that guarantee a particular price at a certain point in time. In this case, the price is guaranteed and no unexpected loss can occur. Also no gain based on favorable price changes can occur as well. We can also hedge against commodity price risk where this involves purchase of a futures contract, that guarantee a particular price at a certain point in time. In this case, the price is guaranteed and no unexpected loss can occur. Also no gain based on favorable price changes can occur as well. Hedging against investment risk means strategically using instruments in the market to

Current prices are listed and the current value of the cash portfolio representing purchasing costs at these prices is $-2,376,547.00. The portfolio values are most commonly thought of as positive values that include both revenue and input cost components. In Case 1, however, the portfolio is made up of only purchasing input cost components, without regard to revenue. Henceforth, the negative portfolio represents future expenses, and the risk considered is that input prices will increase, resulting in higher costs of purchasing. In the hedging strategies implicate forward or futures contracts, the current value of the cash portfolio is equivalent to Wo, the initial portfolio value, because the current values of entire futures contracts and forward contracts at initiation are zero. When lengthy positions in options are used, the premiums represent a primary outlay of funds that is added or subtracted from the current value of the cash portfolio in the equation for the primary portfolio value

But, even though the possibility of winning exists, the company is exposed to a greater risk if it does not hedge. Moreover, the policy of the company is to ensure against the risk, not to speculate on the foreign exchange market.

Hedging can be done in several ways, for instance engage in money market and a call/put option.

Nevertheless, the company Aspen needs to hedge its account. Indeed, they are in the case of economic distress: they care about their image (they need to show their robustness to their customers), they want to show the stability of the company (smoothing the account figures rather than the cash flow), and even if they need cash, they want to avoid any impact to the clients.

Those expenses act as a natural hedge that decreases the total exposure of Aspen to foreign exchange risk. For its revenues and expenses, after “natural hedging”, the overall exposure of Aspen to foreign exchange risk is $9,484,000, with Belgium

Most firms hedge at least some of their risks. Hedging can take two basic forms—namely, natural hedging and hedging by means of derivative instruments. The use of derivatives as hedges has expanded greatly in recent years.

From its definition it can be noticed that hedging is a strategy employed by companies in an effort to safeguard their economic position and to prevent the company from the losses which are associated with the unforeseen risks. Companies can hedge against risks which are associated with losses by taking control of their future purchases. The commodity prices vary in different markets and are caused or influenced by different economic factors. Some commodities are very scarce and with the increased depletion subject to the global demand in different foreign markets, the prices are set to be hiked in response to the established demand which positions the companies that use those particular commodities to have cash flow problems.

Great Eastern Toys is a company in Hong Kong that exports a huge percent of its total sales to the North American and European markets and hence is exposed to currency risk. Previously, the company was occupied with expanding their business and the company 's management had never given much attention to currency risk until their recent meeting with their banker. The banker pointed out that the depreciation of the European currencies during the previous two years had resulted in a substantial loss of income. The company 's management was indeed convinced that they should begin to devote more time and manage their currency position. In this report, we are going to explore the different options for Great Eastern Toys to hedge