American Electric Power Service Corp., Columbus, Ohio, this week contributed $320 million to fully fund its $4.1 billion pension plan, said the company in a news release. The move will improve the company's balance sheet and reduce taxes, Michael Morris, the utility company's chairman and president, said in the release. The company contributed $626 million to the plan in 2005.
Now that the company's pension plan is fully funded, pension officials are considering ways to immunize at least part of the plan's assets, including a large investment in long-duration bonds to match liabilities, according to a money manager familiar with the plan. Steven Kiser, the company's director of trusts and investments, did not return calls by press time.
