Weyerhaeuser Co., Seattle, purchased a group annuity contract from an insurance company to transfer about $420 million in Canadian pension plan liabilities.
The timberland company completed the purchase from the undisclosed insurer during the fourth quarter, it disclosed in an 8-K filing with the SEC on Thursday.
It is the latest in a series of pension risk transfer transactions the company has completed in recent years and the first involving Canadian liabilities.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, Weyerhaeuser reduced U.S. pension plan liabilities by $660 million through lump sums elected by about 20,000 former employees vested in the plan.
In 2019, the company purchased a group annuity contract from Athene Annuity and Life Co. to transfer about $1.5 billion in U.S. pension plan liabilities. That transaction affected about 28,500 U.S. retirees and beneficiaries who were receiving benefits of less than $1,085 a month.
Then, in the fourth quarter of 2020, the company purchased a group annuity contract from Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Co. to transfer about $765 million in U.S. pension plan liabilities and the responsibility of paying benefits to about 5,200 retirees and beneficiaries receiving less than $1,495 a month.
As of Dec. 31, 2021, the company's combined U.S. and Canadian pension plan assets totaled $3.4 billion, while projected benefit obligations totaled $3.7 billion, for a funding ratio of 92.2%, according to its most recent 10-K filing.
Weyerhaeuser spokesman Anthony Chavez could not be immediately reached for further information.
