Bayer Group's two-year plan pays off

But one major multi-national is benefiting from changes it made to its currency risk management two years ago, when such dollar weakness was unthinkable.

At a time when the euro was trading at 86 cents (January 31, 2002) pharmaceuticals and chemical conglomerate Bayer Group began reducing its US dollar dependency. It tried to reduce currency exposure on a net basis by expanding local production and by changing underlying procurement or sales contracts, explained Christian Held, group treasurer