In 2015, Newell Rubbermaid sold consumer goods under a long list of leading brand names such as Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Calphalon, Paper Mate, and Elmer’s. The following year, when the company merged with Jarden Corporation—owner of Yankee Candle, Oster, Rival, Marmot, Crock-Pot, and many others—it formed a consumer-goods powerhouse.

Headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey, Newell Brands now sells nearly $15 billion of products around the world each year. Its global reach means it generates complex cash flows and substantial foreign exchange (FX) risk. Prior to the merger, both Newell and Jarden relied predominantly on outdated, manual treasury processes. Post-merger, the treasury teams found themselves grappling with even broader and more complex processes.

The company had a currency hedging program for cash flows, but it did not have a comprehensive balance sheet hedging program. “We did place some hedges, but they were one-off, for balance sheet items that were large enough and were brought to treasury’s attention,” explains Carmelina Myers, treasury manager with Newell Brands. “Big intercompany loans were usually hedged because we were part of that process, but currency risks around our cash, A/P [accounts payable], and A/R [accounts receivable] usually went under the radar because we didn’t have appropriate tools for gathering that data.”

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Meg Waters

Meg Waters is the editor in chief of Treasury & Risk. She is the former editor in chief of BPM Magazine and the former managing editor of Business Finance.

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