Becton Dickinson & Co., Franklin Lakes, N.J., contributed $200 million to its U.S. pension plans in October, the company disclosed in its recent 10-K filing with the SEC.
The contribution, made in the first month of the medical technology company's fiscal year 2019, was discretionary, according to the filing, and the company added that it does not expect any required contributions for the year.
Benton Dickinson contributed $287 million to its U.S. pension plans in its FY 2018, and a total of $400 million to its global plans, according to the filing. One legacy U.S. plan was frozen to benefit accruals on Jan. 1, 2018.
As of Sept. 30, the company's global pension plan assets totaled $2.642 billion, while projected benefit obligations totaled $3.246 billion, for a funding ratio of 81.4%, up from 73% the prior year. U.S. assets totaled $1.821 billion, while international plan assets totaled $821 million. The company did not break down the projected benefit obligations by region.
Also as of Sept. 30, the discount rate for the U.S. plans was 4.26%, up from 3.72% the previous year. The international plan discount rate was 2.3%, up from 2.25% a year ago.
The U.S. pension plans have a target allocation of 40% fixed income, 32% equities and 28% diversifying investments. The diversifying asset class includes high-yield bonds, hedge funds, real estate, infrastructure, commodities, leveraged loans and emerging markets bonds.
As of Sept. 30, the U.S. plan actual allocation was 48.9% fixed income, 29.4% equities, 19.5% other, and the rest in cash and cash equivalents.
As of the same date, the international plan actual allocation was 38.2% equities, 34.1% fixed income, 13.9% insurance contracts, 9% other, 3.7% real estate and 1.1% cash equivalents. The filing did not provide an target allocation for the international plan.
