PPG Industries unloads $309 million in U.S. pension liabilities

PPG Industries Inc., Pittsburgh, purchased a group annuity contract in March to transfer $309 million in U.S. pension plan liabilities to insurance companies.

The chemical company disclosed the transaction in its 10-Q filing with the SEC on April 21.

The contract will transfer the responsibility of paying benefits for about 4,000 retirees and beneficiaries who began receiving benefits prior to Jan. 1, spokesman Mark Silvey said in an email. He said the company does not have additional information to share about the names or number of insurers.

In 2016, PPG Industries purchased two group annuity contracts to transfer $1.6 billion in pension liabilities to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and MetLife. That transaction transferred about 13,400 then-current U.S. salaried and non-union hourly retirees or their survivors who began receiving their monthly retirement benefit payments on or before April 1, 2016.

In 2022, the company purchased group annuity contracts from an undisclosed insurance company to transfer about $175 million in Canadian pension plan liabilities.

As of Dec. 31, the company's U.S. pension plan assets totaled $1.028 billion, while projected benefit obligations totaled $1.425 billion, for a funding ratio of 72.1%, according to its most recent 10-K filing.