Tire manufacturer makes lump-sum offer to former employees

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Findlay, Ohio, offered a lump-sum window to about 1,200 former vested employees who have yet to retire, the company announced in a 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

The window for the former employees, who represent about $42 million in pension liabilities, ended July 31. The company anticipates making payments to those who select the lump-sum offer by the end of the third quarter.

As of Dec. 31, U.S. pension plan assets totaled $837 million, while projected benefit obligations totaled $1.05 billion, for a funding ratio of 79.7%, according to the company's most recent 10-K filing. As of that time, the company said it expected to contribute between $42 million and $52 million combined to its U.S. and international pension plans in 2016.

Cooper Tire froze its salaried U.S. pension plan in 2009 and closed the union U.S. pension plans to new hires in 2012, according to that filing.

Anne Roman, company spokeswoman, could not be immediately reached to provide further information.

Rob Kozlowski writes for Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Business Insurance.