Levitz retirement plan assumed by PBGC

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Oct. 3 - Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc.'s employees' retirement plan has been assumed by The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., according to a company news release.

According to the release, the plan covers more than 1,600 participants and has been frozen since 1996.

The release said PBGC stepped in because the pension plan faced abandonment after Levitz sold substantially all of its assets to Prentice Capital Management LP in a transaction that did not include the pension plan.

Retirees will continue to receive their monthly benefit checks without interruption, and other workers will receive their pensions when they are eligible to retire.

The Levitz plan is 70% funded, with $55.5 million in assets to cover $79 million in promised benefits, according to PBGC estimates.

The agency said it expects to be liable for the entire $23.5 million shortfall.

The pension plan terminated as of Dec. 16, 2005, and PBGC became trustee on Monday.

Levitz, a Woodbury, N.Y., furniture retailer, filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 11, 2005 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Its Chapter 11 case number is 05-45189.

© 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.