Valuation of a company in an emerging market - in USD or in local currency

Need to do a valuation of a company in an emerging market with quite volatile local currency.
The business is local.

What would you choose: to value the company in a local currency and then convert the final number into USD with the most current exchange rate, or
to value the company in USD?
But then comes another question: would you translate each year numbers with , say, the average exchange rate for that particular year or use some sort of common reference rate? What would be the best practice here in setting the reference rate?

Thanks,

 

For IS and CF I'd use the average rate, whilst for BS I'd use EoP rate.

Valuation should not change if you do it in US$ or in local currency.

Watch out for the effect of inflation accounting, it fucks up lots of information not making it comparable to years outside the ones being reported,

 
Most Helpful

You should always value an asset in the currency it operates in/has most of its revenue stream. The asset will produce local currency, not dollars, so you can’t value it in dollars. 10% irr in usd is NOT a 10% irr in emerging market currency.

You should: (i) project the 3 statements as they are, (ii) add a currency/country premium to WACC (check Damodaran/Duff&Phelps valuation guide for that), and (iii) create EV/irr sensitivity table for the USD/local currency rate (+-5%, 10% and etc).

 

There is no use of IRR in a valuation. I have no idea what are you talking about, and what kind of EV/irr table you have in mind.

The discount rate (the cost of capital) is different, of course. It is currency dependent. I actually can value every company in every currency. But I asked a practical question based on the experience that some IBs do valuation in USD and I have noticed a weird use of FX rates to do so.

 

I would always model in local currency if possible - takes out the brain damage on FX depreciation (not all EM FX will revert to mean) and country specific risk work.

On your second question, you can just assume a fixed forward rate for the rest of the the projections. Or if you really want to be accurate, you can use the Fwd rate T+1...T+10 (assuming 10 year TV), both are fine and the variance will not be significant.

 

Voluptas labore sunt dolore repudiandae. Quis error molestias impedit est harum. Ratione minima aliquam et illum error.

Omnis ipsam consequatur iure quae atque officiis. Deserunt doloribus omnis tempore. Pariatur inventore qui nostrum eos neque. Voluptatum voluptas dolorem qui explicabo. Autem aut qui quia delectus.

Veniam ratione nihil odit illum ratione distinctio non. Est ut voluptas nam voluptatem.

Career Advancement Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Lazard Freres No 98.9%
  • Harris Williams & Co. 25 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 04 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 04 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.9%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (21) $373
  • Associates (91) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”