Financing the working capital requirements of a multinational companies foreign affiliates poses a complex decision problem. This complexity stems from the large number of financing options available to the subsidiary of an MNC. Subsidiaries have access to funds from sister affiliates and the parent, as well as external sources. This article focuses on developing policies for borrowing from either within or without the companies when the risk of exchange rate changes is present and different tax rates and regulations are in effect. There are four aspects of short-term overseas financing strategy namely; Identifying the key factors, Formulating and evaluating objectives, Describing available short-term borrowing options and Developing a methodology for calculating and comparing the effective after-tax dollar costs of these alternatives. 1. Identifying Key Factors There are six key factors in short- term financing the MNCs they are deviations of interest rates, exchange risk, degree of risk aversion, borrowing strategy Continue reading
International Business Finance
Earnings Management – Meaning, Definition, Motives and Strategies
Over the past two decades there has been collapses in corporate sector affecting various companies including Enron, American International Group (AIG), HIH Insurance and National Bank of Fiji. Due to these collapses, the need for proper management of the earning or revenue generated by the company has become the very significant part as main objective of every company. Along with this objective, managers of the organization have different incentives to manage the earning of the company. Management of earnings means structuring the financial transactions and statements in the manner so as to have maximum benefit. It tries to mislead the users of the financial statements by presenting the earnings as budgeted or thought by the management instead of presenting the actual performance made by the company during the period. The different incentives for earnings management are – increased managerial remuneration, management buyout and managing the regulatory concerns imposed by different authorities. Continue reading
Implications of Asset Securitization
Asset securitization can be defined as the partial or complete segregation of a specific set of cash flows from a corporation’s other assets and the issuance of securities based on these cash flows, i.e exchanging one asset for another. The types of financial assets involved in asset securitization transactions are often receivables. The practice of securitization originated with the sale of securities backed by residential mortgages, but the framework of asset securitization has rapidly expanded from its initial root of mortgages and receivables to other more variable cash flows in home equity loan markets, commercial loan markets, credit card receivables, auto loans, small-business loans, corporate loans, state lottery winnings, and litigation settlement payments and other types of loans. Asset securitization is the transformation of a mix of illiquid individual loans that are combined into relatively similar pools and transformed into highly liquid bonds traded in securities markets and usually, when Continue reading
Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities (STRIPS)
STRIPS is the acronym for Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities. STRIPS let investors hold and trade the individual interest and principal components (also known as stripping) of eligible Treasury notes and bonds as separate securities. The origin of Strip Bonds can be traced to the 1960s, when Investment Dealers in the United States began (physically) clipping coupons from bearer government bonds and selling the individual pieces as separate securities. These clipped bonds gained immense popularity and their sales gained momentum in the early and mid 1980s as the interest rates surged to high levels. This was so because it allowed investors to lock in the very high yields that were available at that time, without worrying about the risk of not being able to re-invest future interest payments at the same high rates. The interest and principal steam of cash flow are deterministic and are known Continue reading
International Money Market
A money market is a market for instruments and a means of lending (or investing) and borrowing funds for relatively short periods, typically regards as from one day to one year. Such means and instruments include short term bank loans. Treasury bills, bank certificates of deposit, commercial paper, banker’s acceptances and repurchase agreements and other short term asset backed claims. As a key elements of the financial system of a country, the money market plays a crucial economic role that if reconciling the cash needs of so called deficit units (such as farmers needing to borrow in anticipation of their later harvest revenues), with the investment needs of surplus units (such as insurance companies wanting to invest cash productively prior to making long term investment choices). Holding or borrowing liquid claims is more productive than holding cash balances. A smoothly functioning money market can perform these functions very efficiently if Continue reading
Eurobond
Money may be raised internationally by bond issues and by bank loans. This is done in domestic as well as international markets. The difference is that in international markets the money may come in a currency which is different from that normally used by the borrower. The characteristic feature of the international bond market is that bonds are always sold outside the country of the borrower. There are three types of bond, of which two are international bonds. A domestic bond is a bond issued in a country by a resident of that country. A foreign bond is a bond issued in a particular country by a foreign borrower. Eurobonds are bonds underwritten and sold in more than one country. A foreign bond may be defined as an international bond sold by a foreign borrower but denominated in the currency of the country in which it is placed. It is Continue reading