Pension Plans

In connection with its acquisition of Atmel, the Company assumed unfunded defined benefit pension plans that cover certain French and German employees. Plan benefits are provided in accordance with local statutory requirements. Benefits are based on years of service and employee compensation levels. Pension liabilities and charges are based upon various assumptions, updated annually, including discount rates, future salary increases, employee turnover, and mortality rates. The Company’s French pension plan provides for termination benefits paid to covered French employees only at retirement, and consists of approximately one to five months of salary. The Company's German pension plan provides for defined benefit payouts for covered German employees following retirement.

The aggregate net pension expense relating to these two plans are as follows (amounts in thousands):



	September 30, 2016
	Three Months Ended		Six Months Ended
Service costs	$	363	$	727
Interest costs	241		484
Amortization of actuarial loss	64		129
Settlements	—		231
Net pension period cost	$	668	$	1,571

The change in projected benefit obligation and the accumulated benefit obligation, were as follows (amounts in thousands):



Projected benefit obligation at April 4, 2016	$	40,313
Service cost	727
Interest cost	484
Settlements	231
Actuarial losses (gains)	12,060
Benefits paid	(216		)
Foreign currency exchange rate changes	(55		)
Projected benefit obligation at September 30, 2016	$	53,544
Accumulated benefit obligation at September 30, 2016	48,130

As the defined benefit plans are unfunded, the liability recognized on the condensed consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2016 was $53.5 million of which $0.6 million is included in accrued liabilities and $52.9 million is included in other long-term liabilities.

Actuarial assumptions used to determine benefit obligations for the plans were as follows at September 30, 2016:



Assumed discount rate	0.77% - 1.14%
Assumed compensation rate of increase	3.00%

The discount rate is based on the quarterly average yield for Euros treasuries with a duration of 30 years, plus a supplement for corporate bonds (Euros, AA rating).

Future estimated expected benefit payments for the remainder of fiscal 2017 through 2026 are as follows (amounts in thousands):



Fiscal Year Ending March 31,	Expected Benefit Payments
2017	$	483
2018	792
2019	985
2020	913
2021	1,198
2022 through 2026	9,185
Total	$	13,556

The Company's pension liability represents the present value of estimated future benefits to be paid.

Actuarial losses (gains) for the three and six months ended September 30, 2016 is comprised of a $2.3 million loss and a $12.8 million loss, respectively, recognized due to declines in the discount rates used to calculate the present value of pension obligation and a $0.7 million settlement gain for the six months ended September 30, 2016. Net actuarial losses (gains) will be recognized as a component of net periodic pension cost during fiscal 2018, which is included in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the condensed consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2016.

The Company's net periodic pension cost for fiscal 2017 is expected to be approximately $2.9 million. Cash funding for benefits paid was $0.1 million and $0.2 million for the three and six months ended September 30, 2016, respectively. The Company expects total contributions to these plans to be approximately $0.5 million in fiscal 2017.