Lennox International Inc. signed an agreement to purchase a group annuity contract from Pacific Life Insurance Co. to transfer $78 million in pension plan liabilities, the company disclosed Monday in a 10-Q filing with the SEC.
The agreement is the second buyout in 2019 for the Richardson, Texas, HVAC manufacturer.
As part of the pact, reached Oct. 15, Lennox is transferring $75 million in pension plan assets to Pacific Life. The nature of the population whose benefits are being transferred to Pacific Life was not disclosed.
In April, Lennox disclosed it had purchased a group annuity contract from Pacific Life to transfer $100 million in U.S. pension plan obligations. Steve Harrison, vice president, investor relations, said at the time that only participants currently receiving benefits were being transferred.
As of Dec. 31, Lennox's pension plan assets totaled $291 million, while projected benefit obligations totaled $372 million, for a funding ratio of 78.2%, according to the company's most recent 10-K filing.
According to the same filing, the company froze the pension plan "over the past several years" and distributed lump sums in 2016 to former employees who had elected to receive them who were vested but had not yet begun receiving benefits.
The total amount of the lump sums and the number of former employees who chose to receive them were not disclosed.
Mr. Harrison could not be immediately reached to provide further information.
