Staff
Dairy Crest, one of the largest dairy producers in the United Kingdom, will add £60 million worth of cheddar cheese to its pension fund to help plug a hole in the plan.
The company will also make a one-time contribution of £40 million. At the end of September, Dairy Crest had an £84-million deficit in the plan.
Dairy Crest says if it becomes insolvent, the fund could sell the cheese to pay its pensioners.
A number of pension plans have made similar moves over the years. In 2010, Diageo moved 2.5 million barrels of maturing whisky into its pension to reduce the fund’s deficit. And, in 2004, United States Steel transferred about 170,000 acres of timber rights in Alabama to its pension fund to reduce a shortfall.