PBGC Takes Over Foamex Pension Plan

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has taken over the defined-benefit pension plan of Foamex, a Media, Pennsylvania-based foam products producer.

Foamex is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is preparing to sell its assets in a deal that would not include the pension plan, according to the PBGC.

The Foamex plan, which has about 5,500 participants, is about 48 percent funded, with $74 million in assets to cover about $153 million in liabilities. The PBGC expects to cover $76 million of the $79 million shortfall.

The Foamex plan was frozen as of March 16, 2005, for all participants except some hourly workers at company plants in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, and Tupelo, Mississippi, according to the PBGC.

Filed by Doug Halonen of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.