BWX Technologies Inc., Lynchburg, Va., contributed an additional $118 million to its U.S. pension plans, the company disclosed in a 10-Q filing with the SEC on Tuesday.
The power generation company made the additional contribution in August "in order to capture a tax benefit in our 2017 U.S. tax return due to the change in corporate tax rates," the filing said. It brings the total for the nine months ended Sept. 30 to $158 million in total contributions to pension and other post-retirement plans. In its most recent 10-K filing in February, BWXT said it expected to contribute a total of $26 million to its pension plans in 2018. The company contributed $56 million to its pension plans in 2017.
The August contribution follows the July purchase of a group annuity contract from an unidentified insurance company to transfer about $240 million in U.S. pension plan liabilities, representing about 1,300 retirees and beneficiaries.
As of Dec. 31, BWX's pension plan assets totaled $1.258 billion, while projected benefit obligations totaled $1.543 billion, for a funding ratio of 81.5%, according to the company's most recent 10-K filing. The company has both U.S. and Canada pension plans and did not separate assets by region.
