PBGC takes over, terminates Furniture Brands pension plan

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has taken over and terminated the underfunded pension plan of Furniture Brands International Inc., a decades-old St. Louis-based furniture manufacturer that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September and whose assets are being sold off.

A majority of Furniture Brands' assets are being purchased by KPS Capital Partners L.P. of New York, which is not assuming the company's pension obligations.

The pension plan, which has more than 19,000 participants, is about 55% funded with $337 million in assets and $609 million in liabilities, the PBGC said Thursday.

The PBGC, which this month reported a $27.4 billion deficit in its single-employer insurance program that guarantees benefits to participants in failed plans the agency takes over, expects to cover $270 million of the Furniture Brands' $272 million pension plan funding shortfall.