Dana Inc., Maumee, Ohio, purchased group annuity contracts from Athene Annuity and Life Co., and Companion Life Insurance Co. to transfer the remaining liabilities of the Dana Retirement Plan, its largest U.S. defined benefit plan.
Athene and Companion, a subsidiary of Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance Co., will begin making benefit payments to retirees and beneficiaries on Oct. 1, according to a news release from the company Monday.
The contracts complete the process of the plan's termination, which began in October 2017.
The combination of the annuities and lump sums to participants removes almost $940 million in projected benefit obligations, according to the news release. The release did not specify how much in liabilities is being transferred to the insurance companies, but it did say the company contributed $62 million to the plan to enable the transactions.
As of Dec. 31, the Dana Retirement Plan had about $773 million in assets and $938 million in projected benefit obligations, according to the company's most recent 10-K filing. Overall U.S. DB plan assets of that date totaled $1.3 billion, while the PBO totaled $1.5 billion, for a funding ratio of 86.7%.
Spokesman Jeff Cole could not be immediately reached to provide further information.
