MNI
Pension Plan Matters
In the six months ended June 30, 2013, we made a $7.5 million cash contribution to our Plan to meet our required payment contributions for 2013, while in the six months ended June 24, 2012 we made a $40.0 million cash contribution.
As of December 30, 2012, the projected benefit obligations of our Plan exceeded plan assets by $587.9 million in our financial statements. Legislation enacted in the second quarter of 2012 mandated a change in the discount rates used to calculate the projected benefit obligations for purposes of funding pension plans under Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) regulations. The new legislation and calculation use historical averages of long-term highly-rated corporate bonds (within ranges as defined in the legislation), which has resulted in the application of a higher discount rate to determine the projected benefit obligations for funding and current long-term interest rates.
In addition, the Pension Relief Act of 2010 (“PRA”) provided relief with respect to the funding requirements of the Plan. Under the PRA, we elected an option that allows the required contributions related to our 2009 and 2011 plan years to be paid over 15 years. As a result of these two legislative actions, we estimate that under IRS funding rules, the projected benefit obligation of our Plan exceed plan assets by approximately $153.0 million at the end of calendar year 2012. However, even with the relief provided by the two legislative rules discussed above, based on the current funding position of the Plan, we expect future contributions will be required.
While amounts of future contributions are subject to numerous assumptions, including, among others, changes in interest rates, returns on assets in the Plan and future government regulations, we estimate that a total of approximately $25 million will be required to be contributed to the Plan in fiscal year 2014. The timing and amount of these payments reflect actuarial estimates we believe to be reasonable but are subject to changes in estimates. We believe cash flows from operations will be sufficient to satisfy our contribution requirements.
AI
