Tate & Lyle PLC officials are considering freezing the company's £732 million ($1.2 billion) U.K. pension plan to future accruals beginning in April 2011, according to an interim financial report.
Company officials have started a 60-day consultation period with employees, about 400, who are still enrolled in the DB plan, according to the report for the six months ended Sept. 30.
The decision rests on “a view to containing our pension costs and reducing balance sheet volatility,” the report said.
The Tate & Lyle Group Pension Scheme, London, had a £45 million surplus, according to the company's annual report for the year ended March 31, 2009. The fund's portfolio had a 36% allocation to bonds, 25% allocation to equities and the remainder in other investments, including real estate, according to the annual report.
The U.K. defined benefit plan was closed to new entrants in 2002. If the DB plan is frozen, existing members will be transferred to the Tate & Lyle defined contribution plan. Total assets for the DC plan were not available at press time.
