IBM to add $300 million to non-U.S. pension plans

International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, N.Y., plans to contribute $300 million to its non-U.S. defined benefit plans in 2020.

The amount represents minimum required contributions, the largest of which will go to plans in Spain and Japan, the company disclosed Tuesday in its 10-K filing with the SEC.

IBM does not expect to make any contributions to the U.S. plans this year.

In 2019, IBM contributed $243 million to its non-U.S. plans and did not make any contributions to the U.S. plans.

As of Dec. 31, U.S. plan assets totaled $51.784 billion, while projected benefit obligations totaled $50.232 billion, for a funding ratio of 103.1% up from 100.8% a year earlier.

The discount rate for the U.S. plans was 3.1% as of Dec. 31, down from 4.1% the year before.

As of Dec. 31, non-U.S. plan assets totaled $40.319 billion, while PBO totaled $48.324 billion, for a funding ratio of 83.4%, up from 80.3% the year before.

The discount rate for the non-U.S. plans fell to 1.19% from 1.85% a year earlier.

The U.S. plan's target allocation is 80% fixed income, 12% equities and 4% each, real estate and other investments. The weighted-average target allocation for non-U.S. plans is 71% fixed income, 20% equities, 6% other investments and the rest in real estate.