FedEx Corp., Memphis, Tenn., plans to contribute $1 billion to its U.S. pension plans in fiscal year 2018, the company disclosed in its 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
Of that total, $700 million is required, the company said. In the most recent fiscal year, which ended May 31, FedEx contributed $2 billion to its plans, funded in part by a $1.2 billion debt issuance the company disclosed in January.
Also, FedEx disclosed it made $1.3 billion in lump-sum payments in May to about 18,300 former employees who were vested in the plans and elected to take the offer made by the company. FedEx did not disclose what percentage of those offered the lump sums elected to receive the payments.
As of May 31, U.S. pension plan assets totaled $24.93 billion, while projected benefit obligations totaled $27.87 billion, for a funding ratio of 89.5%, an improvement over the previous year's 82.8% funding ratio.
As of May 31, the U.S. pension plans' actual allocation was 33% corporate fixed-income securities, 19% government fixed-income securities, 14% international equities, 13% global equities, 10% domestic large-cap equities, 4% domestic smidcap equities, 2% mortgage-backed securities and alternatives, and the rest in other.
Jess Bunn, company spokesman, could not be immediately reached to provide further information.