Fortunoff underfunded pension plan assumed by PBGC following sale

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, June 17 - Fortunoff Fine Jewelry & Silverware LLC and M. Fortunoff of Westbury LLC's pension plan has been assumed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., according to a PBGC news release.

The PBGC said it stepped in because the underfunded pension plan faced abandonment after Fortunoff sold substantially all of its assets in a transaction that did not include the pension plan.

According to PBGC estimates, the company's cash balance plan is 54% funded, with assets of $45 million and benefit liabilities of $82 million.

The agency said it expects to cover the entire $37 million shortfall on the plan, which has been frozen since Oct. 29, 2006 and ended on March 6, 2008.

The PBGC will take over the assets and use insurance funds to pay guaranteed benefits earned under the plan, the release said, and retirees and beneficiaries will continue to receive their monthly benefit checks without interruption.

Fortunoff, a Uniondale, N.Y., fine jewelry and home furnishings retailer, filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 3 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Its Chapter 11 case number is 09-10497.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.