Venezuela currency woes: US firms face massive writedowns

New York

AT least 40 major US companies have substantial exposure to Venezuela's deepening economic crisis, and could collectively be forced to take billions of dollars of writedowns, a Reuters analysis shows.

The companies, all members of the Standard & Poor's 500, and including some of the biggest names in Corporate America such as auto giant General Motors (GM) and drugmaker Merck & Co Inc, together carry at least US$11 billion of monetary assets in the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, on their books.

The official rate is at 6.3 bolivars to the dollar and there are two other rates in the government system - known as Sicad I and Sicad II - at about 12 and 50. (…