(Bloomberg) -- The dollar's protracted slide last year caught a lot of people by surprise, including Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.
Li's flagship CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. lost HK$1.2 billion ($150 million) on its forward contracts to hedge against risks in the British pound, euro and yuan, according to its 2017 annual report released Friday.
Li's global empire was probably hedging against the prospect of a rising greenback, which would be a drag on earnings. In the end, the dollar index slumped last year by the most since 2003.
The losses offset gains from converting the conglomerate's foreign-currency earnings into the weakening Hong Kong dollar, which is pegged to the greenback. The company has not entered any foreign-exchange hedges for 2018, it said.
Billionaire Li Ka-shing's Main Companies Report Higher Earnings
To contact the reporter on this story: Justina Lee in Hong Kong at jlee1489@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Richard Frost at rfrost4@bloomberg.net, Will Davies
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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