The terms of a settlement for Wabush Mines’ former employees and retirees are now available, including an $18-million payment to address a $28-million pension shortfall and an estimated $10.9 million to compensate for the loss of health benefits. The settlement affects 1,700 pensioners and former unionized employees of the Newfoundland and Labrador-based mine owned by Cleveland Cliffs Inc., according […]
Three years after Wabush Mines filed for restructuring, its former employees and retirees will see an increase to their pensions, following a previous reduction of between 21 and 25 per cent, as a result of a proposed settlement in the matter. While the amounts won’t be public until the court overseeing the company’s insolvency approves a settlement in principle, […]
Sears Canada Inc. pension plan members are facing bleak prospects for getting their full pension payouts, according to a Toronto bankruptcy lawyer. “They won’t be made whole, regardless of how we look at this,” says Lou Brzezinski, a partner at Blaney McMurty LLP. The comments follow the filing of a recent affidavit by Philip Mohtadi, […]
Despite significant improvements recently to pension plan solvency levels, the start of 2018 has been a challenging one for institutional investors. Shifting monetary policies have put pressure on bond portfolios, while rising yields have started to affect the equity markets. On the equity side, the S&P/TSX composite index has gone from a high of almost […]
Canadian pension plans eked out a small return of almost 0.4 per cent for the first quarter of 2018, according to CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Co. On Friday, CIBC Mellon released the latest report on the returns of 85 corporate, public and university pension plans. It showed 65 per cent of pension plans saw positive […]
Whatever the fate of Sears Holdings Corp.’s operations in the United States, the company’s American pensioners are likely to emerge better off than their Canadian counterparts. Much of that is due to the broad powers available to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which regulates pensions in the United States. “The PBGC can act pre-emptively, and it […]
Stelco Inc’s owner paid $142 million into the company’s pension plans at the end of March, bringing them to a funded status of 85 per cent on a solvency basis. In addition to the $142 million, Stelco’s owner Bedrock Industries Group has injected two previous payments totalling $50 million into the plans since July 1, 2017, […]
The recent volatility in the equity markets has had only a mild impact on the heath of Canadian pension plans so far this year, according to new numbers from Mercer. On Monday, the firm released its quarterly update on the funded status of Canadian defined benefit plans. The median solvency ratio of Mercer clients was […]
As part of its 2018 budget, the Ontario government unveiled a proposal to make its changes to the pension benefits guarantee fund apply retroactively to plans with a windup date on or after May 19, 2017. “This amendment is intended to apply to pension benefits provided to former Sears Canada employees,” the government noted in its budget on […]
The Ontario Pension Board posted a return of 10.8 per cent in 2017, an increase on its return of 8.1 per cent in 2016. The pension fund’s investment income for the year was $2.5 billion, up from $1.75 billion in 2016. Its net assets were $26.4 billion, an increase from the end of 2016 when they sat at $24.4 […]