FINDLAY, Ohio (Aug. 5, 2016) — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has offered a lump-sum window to about 1,200 former vested employees who have yet to retire, the company announced in a 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 4.
The window for the former employees — who represent about $42 million in pension liabilities — ended July 31. The company said it anticipates making payments to those who select the lump-sum offer by the end of the third quarter.
As of Dec. 31, U.S. pension plan assets totaled $837 million, while projected benefit obligations totaled $1.05 billion, for a funding ratio of 79.7 percent, according to the Findlay-based tire maker's most recent 10-K filing. As of that time, the company said it expected to contribute between $42 million and $52 million combined to its U.S. and international pension plans in 2016.
Cooper froze its salaried U.S. pension plan in 2009 and closed the union U.S. pension plans to new hires in 2012, according to that filing.
A company spokeswoman could not be immediately reached to provide further information.
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This report appeared on the website of Pensions & Investments magazine, a Chicago-based sister publication of Tire Business.