Ball Corp., Westminster, Colo., expects to pay a total of $185 million in contributions to its defined benefit plans in 2021, $157 million of which was paid in January.
In 2020, the packaging company contributed $77 million to its U.S. DB plans and $2 million to its non-U.S. DB plans, according to the company's 10-K filing Wednesday with the SEC.
As of Dec. 31, the company had $2.085 billion in U.S. DB assets, while projected benefit obligations totaled $2.752, for a funding ratio of 75.8%, down from 77.3% a year earlier. Its international DB assets, meanwhile, totaled $3.753 billion as of Dec. 31, while projected benefit obligations totaled $3.479 billion, for a funding ratio of 107.9%, up from 105% a year earlier.
The discount rate for the U.S. plans dropped to 2.49% as of Dec. 31 from 3.35% the year before. The discount rate for its U.K. plans dropped to 1.39% as of Dec. 31 from 2.07% the year before. It's discount rate for Germany-based plans dropped to 0.8% as of Dec. 31 from 1.11% the year before.
The actual weighted average asset allocations for Ball's DB pension plans as of Dec. 31 were 79% fixed income, 17% equities, 3% alternatives and 1% cash.
Separately, the filing announced that Ball completed the purchase of about $245 million in non-participating group annuity contracts in 2020 that were transferred to an insurance company for a portion of the company's U.S. pension benefit obligations. Ball also assumed a terminated vested buyout exercise in 2020 for a portion of the company's U.S. pension obligations, reducing the obligations by $147 million.