Defined Benefit Pension Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

We sponsor both funded and unfunded defined benefit pension plans offering death and disability, retirement, and special termination benefits for our international employees, primarily in Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, Brazil, and Spain. The defined benefit obligation is calculated annually by using the projected unit credit method. The measurement date for the pension plans was December 31, 2017.

Amounts recognized on the Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of:



	September 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
	(in thousands)
Assets
Plan assets in other long-term assets	$	911	$	991

Liabilities
Current portion of pension benefit obligation in wages and benefits payable	3,091		3,260
Long-term portion of pension benefit obligation	96,081		95,717

Pension benefit obligation, net	$	98,261	$	97,986

Our asset investment strategy focuses on maintaining a portfolio using primarily insurance funds, which are accounted for as investments and measured at fair value, in order to achieve our long-term investment objectives on a risk adjusted basis. Our general funding policy for these qualified pension plans is to contribute amounts sufficient to satisfy regulatory funding standards of the respective countries for each plan.

Net periodic pension benefit costs for our plans include the following components:



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
	(in thousands)
Service cost	$	1,008		$	994		$	3,025		$	2,846
Interest cost	567			568			1,767			1,628
Expected return on plan assets	(160		)	(152		)	(510		)	(445		)
Amortization of actuarial net loss	383			431			1,178			1,225
Amortization of unrecognized prior service costs	16			16			50			46
Net periodic benefit cost	$	1,814		$	1,857		$	5,510		$	5,300

The components of net periodic benefit cost, other than the service cost component, are included in total other income (expense) on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.