Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is proving to be as savvy as professional investors hedging risks in the foreign-exchange market.

Bundchen, who Forbes magazine says earned an industry-best $33 million in the year through June, is making sure she is paid where she works, according to Patricia Bundchen, her twin sister and manager. Bundchen's Web site says of her advertising campaigns for 16 companies this year, nine are with ones in Europe, three are Brazilian, one is Turkish and another is for part of a Japanese firm. Two are from the U.S.

The 27-year-old model's currency prowess surfaced in the Sept. 12 issue of the 1 million-circulation Brazilian weekly Veja, which quoted Bundchen's preference to be paid in euros for representing Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co.'s Pantene hair products.

Bloomberg News has spoken to her manager and agent several times since then and was the source of worldwide media reports on Bundchen after an exclusive Nov. 5 story, ``Supermodel Bundchen Joins Hedge Fund Managers Dumping Dollars,'' that showed the model's affinity with Warren Buffett and Bill Gross, both longtime bears on the dollar.

The U.S. currency fell to a record low last week against the 34-year-old Trade Weighted Dollar Index, a foreign exchange benchmark.

``It's false that she only takes euros,'' Patricia Bundchen said in a phone interview on Nov. 7 from Porto Alegre, Brazil. ``It's a Brazilian contract, in reais,'' she said of the Pantene contract.

`More Attractive'

That's turned out to be the better choice. The real has risen 21.3 percent against the dollar this year, while the euro gained 10.4 percent. The real is the best performer among the 26 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg, thanks to burgeoning global demand for Brazil's commodity exports. Only the Canadian dollar has strengthened more among major currencies, up 21.8 percent.

The real ``is clearly a runaway freight train,'' with the country's interest rates attracting investors, said Lane Newman, director of currency trading at ING Financial Markets LLC in New York. Brazil's benchmark overnight rate is 11.25 percent, compared with 4.5 percent in the U.S. and 4 percent in the euro region.

Bundchen, who lives in New York and dates Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots football team, works for companies ranging from Procter & Gamble and Columbus, Ohio-based Limited Brands Inc.'s Victoria's Secret to Cacharel, which is owned by Paris-based L'Oreal SA, the world's largest cosmetics maker.

Buffett, the 77-year-old billionaire, is among investors who have been bullish on the real. In an Oct. 18 interview on News Corp.'s Fox Business Network, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said he was a buyer of the real.

``I'm getting a million calls from the media and people we work with,'' Patricia Bundchen said last week. ``All of a sudden people are interested in the currencies Gisele earns, but we don't talk about details of contracts.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Adriana Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro at abrasileiro@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 12, 2007 08:36 EST