Northrop Grumman Corp.'s proposed acquisition of TRW Corp., Cleveland, triggers uncertainty as to how much of TRW's $2.9 billion in defined benefit and $2.4 billion in defined contribution assets will be combined with Northrop Grumman's $13.9 billion in defined benefit and $5 billion in defined contribution assets.
As of Dec. 31, the asset allocation for Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman's defined benefit plan's allocation was 42% domestic equities (including 5.9 percentage points in company stock), 16% international equities, 27% fixed income, 7% venture capital and real estate, and 8% cash, according to the company.
TRW's asset allocation, as of Sept. 30, was 46.4% domestic equities (including 4.8 percentage points in company stock), 15.7% international equities, 21.5% domestic fixed income, 10.4% real estate equity, 2.8% international fixed income, 2.8% cash, and 0.4% private equity, according to the company.
Money managers used by both pension funds include AllianceBernstein, Deutsche Asset, Fidelity, Pilgrim Baxter and PIMCO. Both pension funds use Callan Associates as consultant.
Overlapping managers for the defined contribution funds include PRIMCO for stable value and PIMCO, used by Northrop Grumman for high-yield bonds and by TRW for broad fixed income.
Northrop announced plans to divest TRW's automotive group, based in Livonia, Mich., which has 64,000 of TRW's total 93,000 employees. A breakdown of TRW's automotive pension assets wasn't available.
Officials at TRW and Northrop Grumman didn't return calls seeking comment.
