PBGC to Take Over Manufacturing Firm's Retirement Plan

October 17, 2014 – (PLANSPONSOR.COM) – The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) will pay retirement benefits for more than 4,500 current and future retirees at Reichhold Inc.

The company, which manufactures resins used for composites, plans to sell its assets in bankruptcy, and the pension plan will be abandoned as part of the process.

PBGC is stepping in to pay all pension benefits earned by the plan’s retirees up to the legal limit of about $59,320 a year for a 65-year-old. Moving forward, retirees will continue to get benefits without interruption, while future retirees can apply for benefits as soon as they are eligible. Employees and retirees who are participants in the Reichhold plan will continue to receive benefits from the company until PBGC assumes responsibility.

The shortfall amounts to $97 million, and PBGC is expected to cover $90 million of that total. The plan is 70% funded with $228 million in assets to pay $325 million in benefit liabilities, according to PBGC estimates. 

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