Assignment:
Question 1
A. While market-based hedging instruments can be used to offset or counter uncertainties in interest rates and exchange rates as they impact the income statement, balance sheet hedges require a different approach. Assume you are the CFO of Toyota trying to offset the balance sheet risks associated with Toyota's $4.5 billion investment in Georgetown, Kentucky. Please explain how this risk would be offset by a combination of a 15-year Euro Dollar Bond with equal repayments in the last five years and a floating rate 10-year syndicated Euro-Dollar bank loan combined with an interest rate swap. Assume a fifteen-year straight-line amortization of the new Georgetown facility.
B. Look at the JAL FX loss scenario in the Additional Text Readings where JAL lost as much as or more in FX than the $800 million value of the planes it was purchasing. Then calculate JAL's cost if it had used a different type of hedge, borrowing US$ to buy U.S. government bonds that it then cashed as each plane was purchased. Generally one can borrow up to 95% of the value of U.S. government bonds with the borrowing cost normally about .25% or 25 basis points above the yield on the bonds. Assume that the yield on the bonds is 8% and that they borrow for the full 10 years noted in the case.