Ford Revs Up Pension Plans with $100 Million Contribution

Ford Motor Co. contributed $100 million to its worldwide defined benefit plans in the third quarter, according to its earnings report released Oct. 26.

The company’s total contribution to its defined benefit plans year-to-date as of Sept. 30 was $800 million, confirmed John Stoll, a Ford spokesman. Stoll said Ford will provide a geographic breakdown of its pension contributions at the end of the fiscal year.

Ford had $38.6 billion in U.S. defined benefit plan assets as of Sept. 30; the global total could not be learned by deadline.

Later this week, Ford will use cash to pay off the remaining $3.6 billion of debt it owes to the $45 billion UAW Retiree Medical Benefit Trust, said Robert Shanks, vice president and controller, on Ford’s analyst call on Oct. 26.

Shanks said the move to pay off Ford’s debt to the VEBA retiree health care trust “will lower (Ford’s) ongoing annual interest expense by about $330 million.”

Eric Henry, chief investment officer of the UAW VEBA, did not return a call seeking information about how the cash infusion, which the trust will receive on Oct. 29, will be invested.  

Filed by Christine Williamson of Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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