(updated with correction)
The largest 100 corporate defined benefit plans received a combined $59.4 billion in contributions in 2010, almost twice the $30 billion projected at the start of last year, according to Milliman.
The plans showed asset gains of 12.8%, a $115 billion improvement from 2009. Liabilities increased 7.7% in 2010, generated by a decrease in the discount rate to 5.43% from 5.82% in 2009.
The average funded ratio of the Milliman 100 was 83.9% as of Dec. 31, compared with 81.7% in 2009 and 79.3% in 2008.
Federal pension funding relief, passed in June, and investment performance also helped reduce the funding burden, John Ehrhardt, Milliman principal, consulting actuary and co-author of the Milliman Pension Funding Study, said in a telephone interview.
“We were projecting a slight decline in funded status, but it was reversed by the amount companies contributed to the plans,” he said. “Companies put quite a bit of money into the plans in the fourth quarter.”
Milliman projects the top 100 corporate plan sponsors will contribute a total of $65 billion this year.
Asset allocation for the Milliman 100 in 2010 was relatively unchanged, with investments in equities decreasing to 44% from 45%, fixed income remaining at 36% from the year prior and alternatives increasing to 20% from 19%.
The Milliman 100 Pension Funding Study is an annual report on the country’s largest corporate defined benefit plans.
