A&P pension plans taken over by PBGC

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said Thursday it has taken over three pension plans sponsored by Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., better known as A&P, which filed for bankruptcy last year and has sold off most of its assets.

Collectively, the three plans of the one-time big Montvale, New Jersey-based supermarket chain have more than 21,000 participants and are underfunded by nearly $292 million, with just over $462 million in assets and nearly $754 million in benefit obligations.

The PBGC says it is covering about $288 million of the $292 million benefit funding shortfall.

The loss is the agency's largest since last August, when it took over a pension plan sponsored by Standard Register Co., a Dayton, Ohio-based printing and marketing communication firm, which filed for bankruptcy and was selling off its assets. The PBGC incurred a nearly $322 million loss when it took over the plan, which had more than 8,500 participants.