Cooper to put $60 million toward DB plan

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Findlay, Ohio, will contribute $60 million to its defined benefit plan. The money will come from last month's $1.17 billion sale of the firm's auto parts unit, Cooper-Standard Automotive, to a private equity group formed by Goldman Sachs and The Cypress Group, according to an announcement from the company. Cooper officials had announced they would use the proceeds of the sale to pay down debt but decided to contribute some of the money to the pension plan after the firm's debt analysts pressured them to ease the underfunding. According the company's 2004 annual report, Cooper's pension plan had $835 million in assets and is underfunded by slightly more than $200 million. Roger Hendrickson, a company spokesman, was unavailable for comment by press time.