Lehman Brothers Holdings was ordered by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Wednesday, June 3, to pay the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. $127.6 million to shore up its underfunded pension plan, PBGC spokesman Jeffrey Speicher confirmed.
“The PBGC expects to become trustee of the pension plan within the next several weeks,” Speicher said in an interview following the ruling by Judge James Peck in New York.
The PBGC began proceedings on December 12 to end Lehman Brothers’ retirement plan, which had about $1.2 billion in assets and $1.04 billion in liabilities as of January 1, 2008, according to the bankruptcy court.
Speicher said the plan currently is underfunded by about $115 million.
Lehman attorney Richard Krasnow could not be reached for comment by press time.
Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15. Five days later, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York approved the $1.75 billion sale of the company’s capital markets and investment banking operations to Barclays Capital.
Filed by Timothy Inklebarger of Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter