Assets in pension plans sponsored by the largest U.S. companies last year
exceeded plan liabilities for the first time since 2001, according to a
consultancy’s analysis.
The results were aided by better-than-expected investment returns and a rise
in interest rates, New York-based Mercer found.
For the 377 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 that offer
defined-benefit plans, pension plan assets totaled $1.56 trillion at year-end
2007, compared with plan liabilities of $1.5 trillion, Mercer said.
Additionally, the median funded status of plans rose to 94 percent in 2007
from 89 percent in 2006.
The analysis, based on information reported in annual financial statements,
also found that the median return on plan assets last year was 9.6 percent,
nearly 1.5 points higher than the median expected rate of return.
Plan funding also benefited from a 30- to 50-basis-point rise in the discount
rate used to value plan liabilities, Mercer said.
Filed by Jerry Geisel of
Business
Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment,
e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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