EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PLANS
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Dec. 31, 2011
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EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PLANS |
The company maintains a non-contributory defined benefit plan for its union employees at the Elgin, Illinois facility. Benefits are determined based upon retirement age and years of service with the company. This defined benefit plan was frozen on April 30, 2002, and no further benefits accrue to the participants beyond this date. Plan participants will receive or continue to receive payments for benefits earned on or prior to April 30, 2002 upon reaching retirement age. The employees participating in the defined benefit plan were enrolled in a newly established 401K savings plan on July 1, 2002, further described below.
The company maintains a non-contributory defined benefit plan for its employees at the Smithville, Tennessee facility, which was acquired as part of the Star acquisition. Benefits are determined based upon retirement age and years of service with the company. This defined benefit plan was frozen on April 1, 2008, and no further benefits accrue to the participants beyond this date. Plan participants will receive or continue to receive payments for benefits earned on or prior to April 1, 2008 upon reaching retirement age.
The company maintains a defined benefit plan for its employees at the Wrexham, the United Kingdom facility, which was acquired as part of the Lincat acquisition. Benefits are determined based upon retirement age and years of service with the company. This defined benefit plan was frozen on April 30, 2010 prior to Middleby’s acquisition of the company. No further benefits accrue to the participants beyond this date. Plan participants will receive or continue to receive payments for benefits earned on or prior to April 30, 2010 upon reaching retirement age.
The company also maintains a retirement benefit agreement with its Chairman. The retirement benefits are based upon a percentage of the Chairman’s final base salary. Additionally, the company maintains a retirement plan for non-employee directors participating on the Board of Directors prior to 2004 (together with the Chairman’s agreement the “Director Plans”). In November 2010, the Board of Directors approved a revision to the directors’ compensation program that resulted in the plan being frozen and benefits being distributed to vested plan participants. Benefit distributions were made in December 2010 and in January 2011 subsequent to the fiscal year end. As of December 31, 2011, there are no longer any participants in the retirement plan for non-employee directors. This plan is not available to any new non-employee directors.
A summary of the plans’ net periodic pension cost, benefit obligations, funded status, and net balance sheet position is as follows (dollars in thousands):
The company has engaged non-affiliated third party professional investment advisors to assist the company to develop its investment policy and establish asset allocations. The company's overall investment objective is to provide a return, that along with company contributions, is expected to meet future benefit payments. Investment policy is established in consideration of anticipated future timing of benefit payments under the plans. The anticipated duration of the investment and the potential for investment losses during that period are carefully weighed against the potential for appreciation when making investment decisions. The company routinely monitors the performance of investments made under the plans and reviews investment policy in consideration of changes made to the plans or expected changes in the timing of future benefit payments.
The assets of the plans were invested in the following classes of securities (none of which were securities of the company):
Elgin Plan
Smithville Plan
Wrexham Plan
In accordance with ASC 820 “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures”, the company has measured its defined benefit pension plans at fair value. The following tables summarize the basis used to measure the pension plans’ assets at fair value as of December 31, 2011 (in thousands):
Elgin Plan
Smithville Plan
Wrexham Plan
The fair value of the Level 1 assets is based on observable, quoted market prices of the identical underlying security in an active market. The fair value of the Level 2 assets is primarily based on market observable inputs to quoted market prices, benchmark yields and broker/dealer quotes. Level 3 inputs, as applicable, represent unobservable inputs that reflect assumptions developed by management to measure assets at fair value.
The expected return on assets is developed in consideration of the anticipated duration of investment period for assets held by the plan, the allocation of assets in the plan, and the historical returns for plan assets.
Estimated future benefit payments under the plans are as follows (dollars in thousands):
Contributions to the directors plans are based upon actual retirement benefits for directors as they retire. Contributions under the Smithville and Elgin plans are funded in accordance with provisions of The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Expected contributions to the Elgin, Smithville and Wrexham plans to be made in 2012 are $0.1 million, $0.3 million and $0.5 million, respectively.
As of December 31, 2011, the company maintained two separate defined contribution 401K savings plans covering all employees in the United States. These two plans separately cover the union employees at the Elgin, Illinois facility and all other remaining union and non-union employees in the United States.
In conjunction with the freeze on future benefits under the defined benefit plan for union employees at the Elgin, Illinois facility, the company established a 401K savings plan for this group of employees. The company makes contributions to this plan in accordance with its agreement with the union. These contributions amounted to less than $0.1 million for each of the years presented. There were no other profit sharing contributions to the 401K savings plans for 2011, 2010 and 2009. |