Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but it is unclear if the company will seek to have the two plans terminated, in which case PBGC would take control of the plans' assets. (Photo: iStock)
Most of the roughly 90,000 participants in Sears Holding Corporation's two frozen defined benefit plans would not see their monthly benefits reduced if the plans are terminated as part of bankruptcy proceedings, according to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
On Monday, Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but it is unclear if the company will seek to have the two plans terminated, in which case PBGC would take control of the plans' assets. The plans are underfunded by about $1.5 billion.
“The Sears Holdings Corporation pension plans are ongoing and under the responsibility of the company. However, a preliminary analysis shows that for the vast majority of people covered under the Sears Holdings Corporation pension plans the monthly plan benefit is fully guaranteed,” according to a statement on PBGC's website.
Last month, Edward Lampert, then CEO at Sears, blamed legacy pension obligations for the company's failure to evolve as Amazon and other online retailers squeezed traditional brick-and-mortar retailers.
“In addition to the very difficult retail environment, Sears has also been significantly impacted by its long-term pension obligations,” Lampert wrote on the company's blog. Sears contributed nearly $2 billion to the plans in the past five years, and more than $4.5 billion since 2005.
“Had the Company been able to employ those billions of dollars in its operations, we would have been in a better position to compete with other large retail companies, many of which don't have large pension plans, and thus have not been required to allocate billions of dollars to these liabilities,” said Lampert, who stepped down as CEO on Monday but remains chairman of Sears' board. The company's largest shareholder, Lampert's hedge fund bought Sears in 2005.
PBGC is named as the company's largest unsecured creditor, but an amount was not listed in court papers. The second largest creditor holds $2.31 billion in Sears' debt.
For more than two years, PBGC has negotiated Sears' contributions to the plans and secured cash payments and revenue streams through the sale of Sears brands.
In 2017, PBGC negotiated a $250 million payment from the sale of Sears' Craftsman brand, which sold for $900 million. PBGC is also being paid a portion of sales on the tools for 15 years as part of that deal. PBGC extended $500 million in cash to the pension plans later in the year.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
