Employee Benefit Plans (Text Block)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

General Discussion of Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans [Text Block]

NOTE 12–EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

Defined Benefit Plan

The Company has adopted a contributory defined benefit plan that covers certain employees in the U.K. and Germany. The defined benefit plan is closed to new entrants and frozen with respect to future benefit accruals. The retirement benefit is based on the final average compensation and service of each eligible employee. The Company determined the fair value of the defined benefit plan assets and utilizes an annual measurement date of December 31. At subsequent measurement dates, defined benefit plan assets will be determined based on fair value. Defined benefit plan assets consist primarily of high quality corporate bonds that are denominated in the currency in which the benefits will be paid and that have terms to maturity approximating the terms of the related pension liability. The net pension and supplemental retirement benefit obligations and the related periodic costs are based on, among other things, assumptions of the discount rate, estimated return on plan assets and mortality rates. These obligations and related periodic costs are measured using actuarial techniques and assumptions. The projected unit credit method is the actuarial cost method used to compute the pension liabilities and related expenses.

Net period benefit costs associated with the defined benefit were less than$1 million and approximately $1 million for the year ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. All unrecognized actuarial gains and losses, prior service costs and accumulated other comprehensive income are eliminated and the balance sheet liability is set equal to the funded status of the defined benefit plan at acquisition date.

The following table summarizes the net periodic benefit costs of the Company's plan for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010:

	Defined Benefit Plan
Components of net periodic benefit cost:	2011		2010
Service cost	$	321	$	309
Interest cost		6,088		6,326
Recognized actuarial loss		-		438
Expected return on plan assets		(6,241)		(5,689)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	168	$	1,384

The following tables set forth the benefit obligation, the fair value of plan assets, and the funded status as of December 31:

	Defined Benefit Plan
	2011		2010
Change in benefit obligation:
Beginning balance	$	118,505	$	117,539
Service cost		321		309
Interest cost		6,088		6,326
Actuarial loss		(10,576)		1,143
Benefits paid		(3,825)		(3,283)
Currency changes		(636)		(3,529)
Benefit obligation at December 31	$	109,877	$	118,505
Change in plan assets:
Beginning balance - fair value	$	93,642	$	88,234
Employer contribution		1,524		1,468
Actual return on plan assets		5,852		9,810
Benefits paid		(3,825)		(3,283)
Currency changes		(809)		(2,587)
Fair value of plan assets at December 31	$	96,384	$	93,642
Underfunded status at December 31	$	(13,493)	$	(24,863)

Based on an actuarial study performed as of December 31, 2011, the plan is underfunded by approximately $14 million and the liability is reflected in the Company's consolidated balance sheets as a noncurrent liability and the amount recognized in accumulated other comprehensive gain was approximately $10million.

The Company applies the “10% corridor” approach to amortize unrecognized actuarial gains (losses). Under this approach, only actuarial gains (losses) that exceed 10% of the greater of the projected benefit obligation or the market-related value of the plan assets are amortized. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the plans total recognized loss decreased by $3million. The variance between the actual and expected return to plan assets during 2011increased the total unrecognized net loss by less than $1million. The total unrecognized net loss is less than 10% of the projected benefit obligation and 10% of the plan assets. Therefore, there will not be any excess amount to be amortized over the average term to retirement of plan participants not yet in receipt of pension, which as of December 31, 2011 the average term was 13 years.

The following weighted-average assumptions were used to determine net periodic benefit costs for the year ended December 31:

	2011	2010
Discount rate	5.1%	5.4%
Expected long-term return on plan assets	5.6%	6.6%

The following weighted-average assumption was used to determine the benefit obligations for the year ended December 31:

	2011	2010
Discount rate	5.1%	5.4%

The expected long-term return on plan assets was determined based on historical and expected future returns of the various asset classes. The plans investment policy includes a mandate to diversify assets and invest in a variety of asset classes to achieve its expected long-term return and is currently invested in a variety of funds representing most standard equity and debt security classes. Trustees of the plan may make changes at any time. The following summarizes the plan asset allocations of the assets in the plan and expected long-term return by asset category:

Asset category	Expected long-term return	Assets allocation
Cash	0.5%	0.6%
Equity securities	7.0%	42.3%
Debt securities	4.0%	45.3%
Target return funds	7.0%	11.8%
Total	5.6%	100%

Benefit plan payments are primarily made from funded benefit plan trusts and current assets. The following summarizes the expected future benefit payments, including future benefit accrual, as of December 31, 2011:

Year
2012	$ 3,388
2013	3,636
2014	4,258
2015	4,382
2016	4,382
2017-2021	28,205

The Company adopted a payment plan that Zetex had in place with the trustees of the defined benefit plan, in which the Company paid approximately ₤1 million GBP (approximately $1.6 million based on a USD:GBP exchange rate of 1.6:1) every year from 2009 through 2011.The Company and the trustees are in discussions to extend the payment scheme through 2019.

The Company's overall defined benefit plan investment strategy is to achieve a mix of investments for long-term growth and for near-term benefit payments with a wide diversification of asset types and fund strategies. The target allocations for plan assets are 48% equity securities, 40% corporate bonds and government securities, and 12% to absolute return funds. Equity securities primarily include investments in large-cap and mid-cap companies primarily located in the U.K. Fixed income securities include corporate bonds of companies from diversified industries, and U.K. government bonds. The absolute return fund is mainly invested in a mixture of equities and bonds.

The plan's trustees appoint fund managers to carry out all the day-to-day functions relating to the management of the fund and its administration. The fund managers must invest their portion of the plan's assets in accordance with their investment manager agreement agreed by the trustees. The trustees are responsible for agreeing these investment manager agreements and for deciding on the portion of the plan's assets that will be invested with each fund manager. When making decisions, the trustees take advice from experts including the plan's actuary and also consult with the Company.

The following table summarizes the major categories of the plan assets:

December 31, 2011
Assets Category		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash	$	597	$	-	$	-	$	597
Equity securities:
U.K.		21,100		-		-		21,100
North America		7,548		-		-		7,548
Europe (excluding U.K.)		5,818		-		-		5,818
Japan		2,901		-		-		2,901
Pacific Basin (excluding Japan)		2,555		-		-		2,555
Emerging markets		824		-		-		824
Fixed income securities:
Corporate bonds		-		21,908		-		21,908
Index linked securities:
U.K. Treasuries		21,754		-		-		21,754
Other types of investments:
Absolute return funds		11,379		-		-		11,379
Total	$	74,476	$	21,908	$	-	$	96,384

Fair value is taken to mean the bid value of securities, as supplied by the fund managers. All the plan's securities are publically traded and highly liquid. Therefore, the majority of the securities are valued under Level 1 and one security is valued under Level 2 using quoted prices for identical or similar securities. The plan does not hold any level 3 securities. See Note 2 foradditional information regarding fair value and Levels 1, 2 and 3.

The investment manager agreements require the fund managers to invest in a diverse range of stocks and bonds across each particular asset class. The stocks held by the plan in a particular asset class should therefore match closely the underlying stocks in the relevant index. The Company believes that this leads to minimal concentration of risk within each asset class; although it recognizes that some asset classes are inherently more risky than others.

The Company also has pension plans in Asia for which the benefit obligation, fair value of the plan assets and the funded status amounts are deemed immaterial and therefore, not included in the amounts or assumptions above.

401(k) Retirement Plan

The Company maintains a 401(k) retirement plan (the Plan) for the benefit of qualified employees at its U.S. locations. Employees who participate may elect to make salary deferral contributions to the Plan up to 100% of the employees' eligible payroll subject to annual Internal Revenue Code maximum limitations. The Company makes a matching contribution of $1 for every $2 contributed by the participant up to 6% (3% maximum matching) of the participant's eligible payroll, which vests over four years. In addition, the Company may make a discretionary contribution to the entire qualified employee pool, in accordance with the Plan.

As stipulated by the regulations of China, the Company maintains a retirement plan pursuant to the local municipal government for the employees in China. The Company is required to make contributions to the retirement plan at a rate between 10% and 22% of the employee's eligible payroll. Pursuant to the Taiwan Labor Standard Law and Factory Law, the Company maintains a retirement plan for the employees in Taiwan, whereby the Company makes contributions at a rate of 6% of the employee's eligible payroll.

For the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, total amounts expensed under these plans were approximately $5million, $4million and $2 million, respectively.

Deferred Compensation Plan

The Company maintains a Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Deferred Compensation Plan”) for executive officers, key employees and members of the Board of Directors (the “Board”). The Deferred Compensation Plan allows eligible participants to defer the receipt of eligible compensation, including equity awards, until designated future dates. The Company offsets its obligations under the Deferred Compensation Plan by investing in the actual underlying investments. These investments are classified as trading securities and are carried at fair value. At December 31, 2011, these investments totaled approximately $3million. All gains and losses in these investments are equally offset by corresponding gains and losses in the deferred compensation plan liabilities.

Share-Based Plans

The Company maintains share-based compensation plans for its Board, officers and key employees, which provide for stock options and stock awards under its 1993 ISO Plan, 1993 NQO Plan and 2001 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan.