from BusinessWeek, Au. 18-25, 2003: The Greening of Pension Plans
Cash-strapped U.S. steel (X ) may have hit on a solution for companies scrounging for the dough to pump up pension funds that were recently flattened by the stock market's slide. Just sign over some forests -- or other valuable assets. On Aug. 4, the steelmaker told analysts it was asking for government permission to transfer 170,000 acres of timberland, mostly in Alabama, to its pension funds. The company values the assets at $100 million. But the trees are young so the "valuation will grow over time," says Chairman Thomas Usher. He hopes to get Labor Dept. approval by yearend. Although not as creative, a few other companies have been thinking outside the box, too. General Motors (GM ) moved $1.24 billion in Hughes Electronics (GMH ) stock into its underfunded pension plans earlier this year. Truck maker Navistar International (NAV ) got the O.K. to put $175 million of new shares in its funds. And Northwest Airlines (NWAC ) is waiting for approval to contribute stock in a commuter-airline subsidiary. The request has been hung up because the stock, not publicly traded, is hard to value. Surely there must be other treasures in the corporate attic that companies could sign over. By Michael Arndt -------------- a minor quote du jour, from the same source: "Microsoft is a big intellectual roach motel. All the big minds go in, and they don't come out." -- Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future, on innovation ------------------------ Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
