Two American companies have announced they would sell major media properties over the last few days, yet the fate of the pension liabilities are different.
The second quarter of 2013 brought modest gains for public pension funds in the United States while delivering losses to corporate pension plans, according to new Northern Trust Universe data.
Last year, S&P 500 companies posted record shortfalls in their pensions and other post-employment benefits, threatening to leave America’s future retirees empty-handed.
Pension assets remained unchanged during the second quarter of 2013, as a spike in interest rates in June negated advances in April and May.
In an effort to plug a solvency gap without cutting benefits, the Anglican Church of Canada is urging its pension plan members to approve a three-year funding extension.
Key inflection points in history are seldom appreciated for what they are until considerable time has passed. An extreme example is Zhou Enlai’s response when asked about the historical significance of the French Revolution two centuries earlier. He said it was too soon to tell.
Diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 0.1% before management fees in the second quarter of this year, according to Morneau Shepell’s Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds.
The rising price tag of healthcare and the risks and costs associated with funding pension plans continue to be a concern for finance executives in the United States.
The United Kingdom Supreme Court says that Nortel and Lehman Brothers pension plan members should be treated the same as other unsecured creditors of the bankrupt companies.
The New York City pension funds reaped investment returns of 12.3% in fiscal year 2013, which ended June 30, beating benchmarks and bringing their total value to approximately US$137 billion (C$141.6 billion)—the highest ever for a fiscal year-end.