Celanese Corp., Dallas, made $143 million in lump-sum payments to terminated vested participants in its U.S. defined benefit plan who have yet to retire, its recently released 10-K filing said.
The payments, made in the fourth quarter, were the result of a voluntary program to those participants that began Oct. 1 and ended Nov. 14. The offer was to make a single lump-sum payment or begin immediate annuity payments regardless of age.
The company contributed $165 million to the pension fund in 2014 and plans to contribute about $60 million in 2015.
As of Dec. 31, U.S. plan assets totaled $2.454 billion and projected benefit obligations totaled $3.328 billion, for a funding ratio of 73.7%, according to the 10-K filing.
W. Travis Jacobsen, company spokesman, could not provide further information by press time.
