Visteon Corp., Van Buren Township, Mich., on Tuesday contributed nearly 1.5 million shares of company stock worth about $70 million to its two largest U.S. defined benefit plans, according to a news release from the auto-parts manufacturer.
An independent fiduciary valued the stock contribution and will manage it for plan participants, said Visteon officials in the release. Visteon did not identify the fiduciary.
On Dec. 27, the company made a cash contribution of $15.1 million to one of the plans, which was not identified. The money had been held by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. under a prior agreement.
The cash contribution was “designated as a prefunding amount” that will be used to “offset the plan's funding needs after June 2013,” according to the release.
Visteon emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Oct. 1, 2010. During bankruptcy protection, Visteon had sought to terminate three of its four U.S. defined benefit plans and transfer them to the PBGC, but in 2010, agreed to a reorganization plan that kept the plans open, according to an Aug. 10, 2010, statement from the PBGC.
Jim Fisher, a Visteon spokesman, did not return a call seeking reaction and more information about the company's pension funds.
The Visteon Corp. Defined Benefit Plan Master Trust Fund totaled $987 million as of Dec. 31, 2010, according to the most recent Form 5550 filed with the Department of Labor. The Master Trust Fund covered three of Visteon's four U.S. defined benefit plans. Information about the fourth fund could not be found.
