Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., plans to contribute $190 million to its defined benefit plans in 2015, the company's recently filed 10-K shows.
The company is expected to contribute $160 million to its non-U.S. pension funds and $30 million to its U.S. pension funds, down from $265 million and $255 million, respectively, in 2014.
Assets for the U.S. pension funds were $12.53 billion with $16.25 billion in liabilities, for a funding ratio of 77% as of Dec. 31. The non-U.S. pension funds had $4.1 billion in assets and $4.8 billion in liabilities for a funding ratio of 85%, as of the same date, right. The discount rate used to measure benefit obligations was 3.8% for the U.S. plans, down from 4.6% at the end of 2013. The discount for non-U.S. plans was 3.3%, down from 4.1% a year earlier.
At the end of 2014, the U.S. plans had an asset allocation of 47.1% fixed income, 30.9% U.S. equities, 18.4% non-U.S. equity, 3.5% in cash and other, and the remainder in real estate. The target allocation is 50% each equity and fixed income.
By comparison, the non-U.S. plans had an asset allocation of 43.8% fixed income, 25.5% non-U.S. equities, 13.5% U.S. equities, 6.6% global equities, 5.6% real estate and the remainder in cash/other. The target allocation is 46% each equities and fixed income, 6% real estate and 2% other.
