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Aerospace manufacturer offers lump-sum pension conversion

Posted On: Oct. 23, 2015 12:00 AM CST

Barnes Group Inc. is offering 1,300 former employees the opportunity to convert their future monthly pension annuity into a cash lump sum.

In an 8-K filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Barnes Group, a Bristol, Connecticut-based industrial and aerospace manufacturer, said it is taking the action “to reduce the size and potential volatility of its U.S. pension plan obligation.”

Barnes said the payments will be made from plan assets, with the plan’s funded status not expected to be adversely affected by the program.

At year-end 2014, Barnes’ U.S. pension plans were more than $50 million underfunded with $380.9 million in assets and $433.1 million in liabilities, according to the company’s 2014 10-K filing.