The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is taking over and terminating the underfunded pension plan sponsored by the estate of one-time businessman and corporate raider Victor Posner.
The PBGC said Tuesday it is stepping in because the assets of the Posner estate are being distributed by a Florida probate court, and the pension plan will be abandoned.
The plan, which has 2,101 participants, is 39% funded with $25 million in assets and $63.9 million in liabilities. The PBGC said it expects to cover the entire $38.8 million funding shortfall.
Mr. Posner, who died in 2002, at one time had controlling interests in numerous corporations, including Arby's, Royal Crown Cola and Sharon Steel Corp.
A 2002 New York Times obituary said Mr. Posner mismanaged many of “these companies into bankruptcy but enriched himself as they foundered.”
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. restructured a multiemployer pension plan and took over benefit payments for former Hostess Brands Inc. participants, allowing the Bakery and Sales Drivers Local 33 Industry Pension Fund in Baltimore to remain solvent, the agency announced Friday.