EuroFinance

Managing treasury operations in Brazil presents many challenges. Among other, currency restrictions, tax regulations and regulatory reporting requirements contribute to a complex and demanding environment for multinationals to navigate. For Dutch-Swiss offshore contractor Allseas, the challenge became real when a project was awarded in Brazil.

“We are a project-driven organisation, which means our field of work is shaped by the projects we take on” explained Manuel Kampman, Treasurer. “We started our preparations in the tender phase, by assessing what would be the best way for Allseas to manage its financial operations – particularly liquidity – given the complexities of moving funds in and out of the county.”

Regulatory and operational hurdles

Brazil’s currency restrictions, tax environment and regulatory requirements forced Allseas to reassess its treasury strategy and identify the most effective approach for operating in such a complex financial landscape. “Brazil is from a regulation and tax perspective complex and challenging,” said Maaike Vermeulen, group treasurer. “Nonetheless, from a treasury perspective, Brazil presents an interesting challenge, complex to manage, but professionally rewarding.”

A key driver behind the solution is Allseas small size of the Treasury team. “Normally, we would need to manually execute several trades simultaneously—both onshore and offshore—which is highly resource intensive and not feasible for a small treasury team,” noted Manuel Kampman.

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Automation and alignment

To address these operational challenges, Allseas jointly with the Deutsche Bank designed a single-upload model that automated submissions into its treasury infrastructure, supported by pre-agreed rules and rates.

“By simply sending an email with an Excel sheet, everything is executed automatically at the pre-agreed rates and rules” said Kampman. “That really made a difference for us as a treasury team being able to operate highly efficiently.”

For Vermeulen, the realised efficiency gains were essential: “Brazil was taking a lot of time, especially funding and repatriating cash. Now with this solution it’s highly automatised and fits perfectly—not only for the team, but also for Allseas as an innovative company.”

Flexible funding and repayments

The solution also allows liquidity to be managed with greater precision. Instead of relying on large intercompany loans, Allseas could now align funding with project-driven cashflows.

“The beauty of the solution is the flexibility” Kampman said. “Following our weekly payment cycle, we only fund the account for the amount we actually need. Funding now mirrors our cash flows needs, and we can also repay accordingly.”

Linking Brazil to central hedging

Managing currency risk posed another obstacle. To fund our local entity, Euros from our finance vehicle had to be converted into Brazilian real (BRL), introducing the need to manage our foreign exchange exposure in line with Allseas’ Treasury policy. Allseas and the Deutsche Bank solved this by linking onshore BRL conversions directly with its central non-deliverable forward (NDF) programme.

“It means the onshore spot and offshore NDF conversions are aligned both in terms of timing and fixing source, eliminating timing mismatches and bid-ask spread risks,” explained Kampman. “Both trades are executed automatically following pre-defines rules and rates documented in the underlying agreements.”

Pre-agreed margins also made a difference. As Vermeulen noted: “We have more transparency on costs, which strengthens our ability to bid for new projects.

Replicability: beyond Brazil

While Brazil presented unique challenges, the approach offers lessons for other restricted or emerging markets. “Every country has different regulations, so you can never copy a solution one-to-one,” Kampman said. “But the principles we used—onshore/offshore conversion, funding alignment, documentation frameworks—can definitely be applied elsewhere depending on the specific environment.”

For Allseas, the project showed how a lean treasury can use automation and smart design to deliver both efficiency and strategic value. As Vermeulen summed it up: “This is a perfect fit for who we are as a company—innovative, efficient, and able to adapt to complex environments.”

The initiative, which combined automation, efficiency and risk management in one framework, earned Allseas the EuroFinance Treasury Excellence Award 2025 in Financing & Liquidity. The award recognised not only the technical achievement, but also the value created for the wider business.

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