Pfizer Inc., New York, expects to contribute a total of $355 million to its global pension plans this year, according to its 10-K filed Thursday.
The company expects to make an $11 million contribution to its U.S. qualified pension plans and a $177 million contribution to its international pension plans. Last year, the company made a $500 million contribution to its U.S. qualified plans and $209 million to its international pension plans, the 10-K said.
The company also expects to make a $167 million contribution to its U.S. non-qualified pension plans, compared with $129 million last year, the 10-K said.
Pfizer's U.S. qualified pension plans had $13.05 billion in assets as of Dec. 31 and liabilities of $15.14 billion, for a funding ratio of 86.2%, vs. 85.5% the previous year.
The firm's international pension plans had $8.22 billion in assets as of year-end 2018 and liabilities of $9.95 billion, for a funding ratio of 88.6%. At year-end 2017, the plans had $8.86 billion in assets and liabilities of $10.61 billion, for a funding ratio of 83.5%.
As of Dec. 31, Pfizer's U.S. qualified pension plans had an allocation of 47.1% fixed income, 31.3% equity, 18.2% other, and 3.4% cash and cash equivalents.
The international pension plans' allocation as of Dec. 31 was 46.3% fixed income, 27.8% other, 22.9% equity, and 3% cash and cash equivalents.
The discount rate for U.S. qualified plans was 4.4% last year vs. 3.8% in 2017. The discount rate for U.S. non-qualified plans was 4.3% last year vs. 3.7% in 2017. The discount rate for international plans was 2.5% last year vs. 2.3% in 2017.
