Layered Basket Option Hedging : Currency risk management for multinational corporations

Abstract: Background: In an increasingly globalized environment, corporations perform transactions across borders on a day-to-day basis. As multinational corporations expand their businesses the number of currencies in their operations increases. The consequence of operating with several currencies is the risk associated with currency fluctuations. Sandvik AB is a worldwide corporation where activities are conducted through representation in more than 130 countries. Currency exposures are controlled through risk management where financial derivatives are applied to protect the corporation from potential losses caused by fluctuations. Sandvik AB recently implemented a hedging strategy entitled Layered Basket Option hedging. The strategy is a combination of a layered- and a basket option approach to maximize the effect of the hedge. There is a limited amount of previous research regarding Layered Basket Option hedging and Sandvik AB is the first corporation to actively practice this strategy. Purpose: The purpose is to investigate and provide information about how currency risk most effectively is hedged for the multinational corporation Sandvik AB. Furthermore, we want to evaluate if Sandvik’s recently implemented hedging strategy, Layered Basket Option hedging, is the best-suited strategy for them and if there are any improvements to be made. This thesis will further investigate the importance of currency hedging for multinational corporations, which are dependent on reporting to their stakeholders. Hopefully, this thesis will also facilitate the communication of Sandvik’s currency strategies throughout the organization and make it more comprehensible. Method: Exchange rates on daily basis for the period 2002-2012 were collected from Bank of Canada and Reuters database. The collected data was thereafter used as a basis to perform calculations to determine if Layered Basket Option hedging is the optimal solution for Sandvik AB. Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the benefits from applying a Layered Basket Option hedging strategy and the strategy succeeds to reduce the volatility caused by currency fluctuation. The results indicate that the combination of a layered- and a basket option approach successfully creates a suitable strategy for Sandvik AB. Furthermore, this thesis has recognized that there exists room for improvement by actively allocating currencies according to their weights and correlations to fully exploit the effects from the strategy.