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BENEFIT PLANS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Defined Contribution Plans

The Company maintains both U.S. and non-U.S. employee defined contribution plans. The primary U.S. plan, the Dentsply Sirona Inc. 401(k) Savings (the "Plan"), allows eligible employees to contribute a portion of their cash compensation to the plan on a tax-deferred basis, and in most cases, the Company provides a matching contribution. The Plan includes various investment funds. The Company makes a discretionary cash contribution that is initially targeted to be 3% of compensation. Each eligible participant who elects to defer to the Plan will receive a matching contribution of 100% on the first 1% contributed and 50% on the next 5% contributed for a total maximum matching contribution of 3.5%. In addition to the primary U.S. plan, the Company also maintains various other U.S. and non-U.S. defined contribution and non-qualified deferred compensation plans. The annual expenses, net of forfeitures, were $36 million, $35 million and $35 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

Defined Benefit Plans

The Company maintains defined benefit pension plans for certain employees in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan. These plans provide benefits based upon age, years of service and remuneration. The United States and other foreign pension plans are not significant individually or in the aggregate. Substantially all of the German and Swedish plans are unfunded book reserve plans. Most employees and retirees outside the U.S. are covered by government health plans.

The Company predominantly derives its discount rates by applying the specific spot rates along the yield curve to the relevant projected cash flows; or, in markets where there is an absence of a sufficiently deep corporate bond market, it uses liability durations in establishing its discount rates, which are observed from indices of high-grade corporate bond yield curves in the respective economic regions of the plan. For the large defined benefits pension plans, the Company uses a spot rate approach for the estimation of the Service Cost and Interest Cost components of benefit cost by applying the specific spot rates along the yield curve to the relevant projected cash flows.

Significant changes in the retirement plan benefit obligations for the year ended December 31, 2020 include a $31 million actuarial loss primarily attributable to the change in discount rates, the effect of which is slightly offset by the change in inflation and salary increase assumptions in some plans.

Significant changes in the retirement plan benefit obligations for the year ended December 31, 2019 include a $68 million actuarial loss primarily attributable to the change in discount rates, the effect of which is slightly offset by the change in inflation and salary increase assumptions in some plans. The changes also include a $2 million actuarial gain due to demographic assumption changes and a $13 million actuarial loss due to plan experience different than anticipated.

Defined Benefit Pension Plan Assets

The primary investment strategy is to ensure that the assets of the plans, along with anticipated future contributions, will be invested in order that the benefit entitlements of employees, pensioners and beneficiaries covered under the plan can be met when due with high probability. Pension plan assets consist mainly of common stock and fixed income investments. The target allocations for defined benefit plan assets are 30% to 65% equity securities, 30% to 65% fixed income securities, 0% to 15% real estate, and 0% to 25% in all other types of investments. Equity securities include investments in companies located both in and outside the U.S. Equity securities in the defined benefit pension plans do not include Company common stock contributed directly by the Company. Fixed income securities include corporate bonds of companies from diversified industries, government bonds, mortgage notes and pledge letters. Other types of investments include investments in mutual funds, common trusts, insurance contracts, hedge funds and real estate. These plan assets are not recorded in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet as they are held in trust or other off-balance sheet investment vehicles.

The defined benefit pension plan assets maintained in Austria, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Taiwan all have separate investment policies but generally have an objective to achieve a long-term rate of return in excess of 4% while at the same time mitigating the impact of investment risk associated with investment categories that are expected to yield greater than average returns. In accordance with the investment policies, the plans’ assets were invested in the following investment categories: interest-bearing cash, U.S. and foreign equities, foreign fixed income securities (primarily corporate and government bonds), insurance company contracts, real estate and hedge funds.

Reconciliation of changes in the defined benefit obligations, fair value of assets and statement of funded status were as follows:




	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2020		2019

Change in Benefit Obligation
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	578	$	512
Service cost	16		14
Interest cost	5		8
Participant contributions	4		4
Actuarial losses (gains)	31		79


Effect of exchange rate changes	59		(7)

Plan curtailments and settlements	(1)		(23)
Benefits paid	(17)		(9)
Benefit obligation at end of year	$	675	$	578

Change in Plan Assets
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	185	$	173
Actual return on assets	9		24
Plan settlements	—		(23)

Effect of exchange rate changes	17		2
Employer contributions	15		14
Participant contributions	4		4
Benefits paid	(17)		(9)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	213	$	185

Funded status at end of year	$	(462)	$	(393)

The amounts recognized in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets, net of tax effects, were as follows:


	Location In The	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	Consolidated Balance Sheets	2020		2019


Deferred tax asset	Other noncurrent assets, net	$	49	$	40
Total assets		$	49	$	40

Current liabilities	Accrued liabilities	(10)		(9)
Other noncurrent liabilities	Other noncurrent liabilities	(452)		(384)
Deferred tax liability	Deferred income taxes	(1)		(1)
Total liabilities		$	(463)	$	(394)

Accumulated other comprehensive income	Accumulated other comprehensive loss	139		113
Net amount recognized		$	(275)	$	(241)

Amounts recognized in AOCI were as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2020		2019

Net actuarial loss	$	191	$	156
Net prior service cost	(4)		(4)
Before tax AOCI	$	187	$	152
Less: Deferred taxes	48		39
Net of tax AOCI	$	139	$	113

Information for pension plans with a projected or accumulated benefit obligation in excess of plan assets were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2020		2019

Projected benefit obligation	$	484	$	398
Accumulated benefit obligation	455		371
Fair value of plan assets	26		8

Components of net periodic benefit cost were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,						Location in Consolidated
(in millions)	2020		2019		2018		Statements of Operations

Service cost	$	6	$	6	$	6	Cost of products sold
Service cost	10		8		10		Selling, general and administrative expenses
Interest cost	5		8		7		Other expense (income), net
Expected return on plan assets	(4)		(5)		(5)		Other expense (income), net

Amortization of prior service credit	(1)		(1)		—		Other expense (income), net
Amortization of net actuarial loss	9		6		6		Other expense (income), net
Curtailment and settlement (gains) loss	—		6		(1)		Other expense (income), net

Net periodic benefit cost	$	25	$	28	$	23

Other changes in plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in AOCI were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
(in millions)	2020		2019		2018

Net actuarial loss (gain)	$	43	$	53	$	(6)
Net prior service cost (credit)	—		—		(3)

Amortization	(9)		(5)		(6)
Total recognized in AOCI	$	34	$	48	$	(15)
Total recognized in net periodic benefit cost and AOCI	$	59	$	76	$	8

Assumptions

The weighted average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations for the Company’s plans, principally in foreign locations were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2020		2019		2018

Interest crediting rate	1.3	%	1.3	%	1.5	%
Discount rate	0.6	%	1.0	%	1.8	%
Rate of compensation increase	2.4	%	2.5	%	2.5	%

The weighted average assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit cost for the Company’s plans, principally in foreign locations were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2020		2019		2018

Interest crediting rate	1.3	%	1.3	%	1.5	%
Discount rate	1.0	%	1.8	%	1.6	%
Expected return on plan assets	2.3	%	2.9	%	2.9	%
Rate of compensation increase	2.5	%	2.5	%	2.5	%
Measurement date	12/31/2020		12/31/2019		12/31/2018

To develop the assumptions for the expected long-term rate of return on assets, the Company considered the current level of expected returns on risk free investments (primarily U.S. government bonds), the historical level of the risk premium associated with the other asset classes in which the assets are invested and the expectations for future returns of each asset class. The expected return for each asset class was then weighted based on the target asset allocations to develop the assumptions for the expected long-term rate of return on assets.

Fair Value Measurements of Plan Assets

The fair value of the Company’s pension plan assets at December 31, 2020 and 2019 is presented in the table below by asset category. Approximately 75% of the total plan assets are categorized as Level 1, and therefore, the values assigned to these pension assets are based on quoted prices available in active markets. For the other category levels, a description of the valuation is provided in Note 1, Significant Accounting Policies, under the “Fair Value Measurement” heading.


	December 31, 2020
(in millions)	Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3

Assets Category
Cash and cash equivalents	$	16	$	16	$	—	$	—
Equity securities:

International	58		58		—		—
Fixed income securities:
Fixed rate bonds (a)	65		65		—		—
Other types of investments:
Mutual funds (b)	20		20		—		—

Common trusts (c)	5		—		5		—
Insurance contracts	37		—		—		37
Hedge funds	12		—		—		12

Total	$	213	$	159	$	5	$	49


	December 31, 2019
(in millions)	Total		Level 1		Level 2		Level 3

Assets Category
Cash and cash equivalents	$	13	$	13	$	—	$	—
Equity securities:

International	56		56		—		—
Fixed income securities:
Fixed rate bonds (a)	55		55		—		—
Other types of investments:
Mutual funds (b)	18		18		—		—

Common trusts (c)	4		—		4		—
Insurance contracts	30		—		—		30
Hedge funds	9		—		—		9

Total	$	185	$	142	$	4	$	39

(a) This category includes fixed income securities invested primarily in Swiss bonds, foreign bonds denominated in Swiss francs, foreign currency bonds, mortgage notes and pledged letters.

(b) This category includes mutual funds balanced between moderate-income generation and moderate capital appreciation with investment allocations of approximately 50% equities and 50% fixed income investments.

(c) This category includes common/collective funds with investments in approximately 65% equities and 35% in fixed income investments.

A reconciliation from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2020 for the plan assets categorized as Level 3 were as follows:


	December 31, 2020
(in millions)	Insurance Contracts		Hedge Funds		Total

Balance at December 31, 2019	$	30	$	9	$	39
Actual return on plan assets:
Relating to assets still held at the reporting date	3		—		3


Purchases, sales and settlements, net	—		2		2

Effect of exchange rate changes	4		1		5
Balance at December 31, 2020	$	37	$	12	$	49


	December 31, 2019
(in millions)	Insurance Contracts		Hedge Funds		Total

Balance at December 31, 2018	$	28	$	7	$	35
Actual return on plan assets:
Relating to assets still held at the reporting date	4		(1)		3


Purchases, sales and settlements, net	(1)		3		2

Effect of exchange rate changes	(1)		—		(1)
Balance at December 31, 2019	$	30	$	9	$	39

Fair values for Level 3 assets are determined as follows:

Hedge Funds: The investments are valued using the net asset value provided by the administrator of the fund, which is based on the fair value of the underlying securities.

Real Estate: Investment is stated by its appraised value.

Insurance Contracts: The value of the asset represents the mathematical reserve of the insurance policies and is calculated by the insurance firms using their own assumptions.

Cash Flows

In 2021, the Company expects to make employer contributions of $17 million to its defined benefit pension plans.

Estimated Future Benefit Payments

Total benefits expected to be paid from the plans in the future were as follows:


(in millions)	Pension Benefits

2021	$	22
2022	21
2023	21
2024	21
2025	23
2026-2030	121