Timber Operators Council Retirement Plan entrusts Prudential to fulfill $245 million in pension promises to 3,000 retirees and deferred participants

By: Prudential Financial, Inc. via Business Wire

February 23, 2022 at 10:00 AM EST

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) today announced a pension risk transfer transaction, by which Timber Operators Council Retirement Plan (“TOCRP”) settled approximately $245 million of its pension plan obligations, for approximately 3,000 retirees, beneficiaries and deferred participants, through the purchase of a group annuity contract from The Prudential Insurance Company of America (PICA). PICA is expected to assume responsibility for paying these benefits beginning April 1, 2022. PICA is a subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc.

“The multiple employer plan¹ segment is a developing area of the pension risk transfer market, and Prudential is excited to help meet the retirement security needs of these organizations,” said Alexandra Hyten, Head of Pension Risk Transfer and Structured Settlements for Prudential Retirement Strategies. “We are committed to ensuring that retired employees, beneficiaries, and deferred participants in the TOCRP enjoy the kind of superior experience they have received from the TOCRP over its long history, including receiving their pension payments on time, all the time.”

The TOCRP is a defined-benefit pension plan that was established by a group of Western wood products employers in 1961 to provide retirement benefits for their non-union employees. The TOCRP began a multi-year strategy to fully fund and ensure delivery of all benefits due under the TOCRP, which ultimately resulted in the termination of the TOCRP. Brentwood Companies is the plan fiduciary for the TOCRP and served as consultant for the transaction. Stoel Rives LLP represents TOCRP and served as legal counsel in connection with the termination of the TOCRP and the related pension risk transfer transaction.

“The TOCRP takes its obligations to its participants and beneficiaries very seriously,” said Rodger Glos, the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the TOCRP. “It is great to be working with a partner like Prudential that shares this commitment and brings industry-leading expertise and leadership in pension risk transfer.”

Since 1928, Prudential has been a leader and innovator in the pension risk transfer market, creating the next generation solutions to companies and organizations across a wide range of industries to better manage their pension risk and costs. Prudential revolutionized the modern pension risk transfer market with its pioneering pension buy-outs with General Motors and Verizon in 2012. Many similar transactions followed, including the 2021 buy-out with HP, Inc. — the fourth largest ever in the market. Today, with three of the top four largest pension risk transfers on record, Prudential continues to be a leader in expanding access to retirement security and helping employers satisfy their commitments to retiring workers through pension risk transfer transactions.

¹A multiple employer plan is one in which employers who belong to the same trade association form a defined benefit pension plan, often primarily to reduce administrative expenses. This is not to be confused with a multiemployer plan that is collectively bargained, often referred to as a Taft-Hartley plan and subject to multiemployer funding rules.

About Prudential Financial, Inc.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a global financial services leader and premier active global investment manager with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2021, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise, and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.

Prudential Retirement Strategies delivers industry-leading retirement solutions for growth and protection to individuals and institutions, through solutions including Prudential’s FlexGuard and FlexGuard Income individual annuities, and retirement Institutional Investment Products, including pension risk transfer, international reinsurance, institutional stable value wrap and structured settlements solutions. With more than 90 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement Strategies helps meet the needs of more than 2 million customers and provides retirement income of more than $18 billion annually.

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