Harris Corp. plans $300 million pension contribution

Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla., plans to contribute an additional $300 million to its U.S. defined benefit plan in the fiscal year ending June 30, the company said in a news release Tuesday.

The communications and information technology company said the additional pension contribution was a result of the recent passage of the tax reform bill. Other initiatives the company announced as a result of the new tax law were increases in investment and research, and a one-time stock grant to all non-executive employees.

In its most recent 10-K filing, Harris announced it had no plans to make any contributions to the plan. During fiscal 2017, the company made pension contributions totaling $591 million.

As of June 30, 2017, the U.S. defined benefit plan had $4.921 billion in assets and projected benefit obligations totaling $6.14 billion, for a funding ratio of 80.1%, according to the 10-K filing.

Also as of June 30, 2017, the actual asset allocation was 50.3% equities, 22.6% fixed income, 11.9% cash and cash equivalents, 9.7% private equity, 4.8% hedge funds, and 0.7% commodities and real estate.

Spokesman Anurag Maheshwari was not immediately available to provide further information.