
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 26, 1991                   TAG: 9102260040
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

WEAK PENSIONS LISTED/ AGENCY NAMES 50 PLANS THAT COULD COME UP SHORT

The nation's 50 largest underfunded pension plans have a potential combined shortfall of more than $14 billion, the government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said Monday.

But the report immediately drew fire from the National Association of Manufacturers, which called it misleading and said the list "sows unnecessary fears and concerns."

The PBGC, the agency that guarantees private-sector pensions, said the companies on the list were not necessarily in poor financial health or guilty of failing to properly fund their pension plans. However, it said, some of the plans are linked with financially weak firms that do pose a risk to PBGC. Several of the companies have operations in Virginia.

"Over 50 percent of the underfunding on this list are either probable or possible losses," said James Lockhart, the agency's executive director. The list came from a survey of corporate annual reports for fiscal years ending in 1989.

The agency's statement said that overall, the defined pension benefit system guaranteed by the government is well funded, with about $1 trillion in assets to back up some $800 billion in liabilities.

The agency said actions taken by companies since January 1990 to improve funding or merge underfunded plans with overfunded plans indicate that some of the companies might not be on next year's list.

Here are the 50 companies listed Monday and the size of their potential shortfall if the plans were to close and the PBGC had to guarantee benefits, based on information of December 1989:

The LTV Corp., $2.9 billion; Blaw Knox Corp., $79 million; Sharon Steel Corp., $178 million; Jesup Group, Inc., $81 million; CF&I Steel Corp., $142 million; Atlantic Steel Co. $37 million; Loews Corp. $130 million; Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co., $453 million; Lone Star Technologies, $37 million; American National Can Co., $426 million.

American Financial Corp. $52 million; Pan Am World Airways, Inc. $621 million; Western Union Corp., $284 million; White Consolidated Industries, $57 million; Keystone Consolidated Industries, $83 million; Carter Hawley Hale Stores, $76 million; Continental Air Holding, Inc., $635 million; Borg-Warner Corp., $73 million; National Intergroup, Inc., $236 million; K-H Corp., $57 million.

Laclede Steel Co., $36 million; Chrysler Corp., $2.6 billion; Budd Co. $160 million; Occidental Petroleum Corp., $41 million; Allegheny International Inc. $54 million; Anchor Glass Container Corp., $50 million; UAL Corp., $112 million; Rockwell International Corp., $182 million; Tenneco Inc., $82 million; Foxboro Corp., $47 million.

James River Corp., $71 million; United Technologies Corp., $56 million; Bethlehem Steel Corp., $1.2 billion; Phelps-Dodge Corp., $41 million; Boise Cascade Corp., $32 million; Kellogg Co., $32 million; BF Goodrich Co., $101 million; Cyclops Industries, $66 million; Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc., $153 million; Navistar International, $377 million.

Dana Corp., $79 million; Deere & Co., $172 million; Maxxam, Inc., $91 million; Allegheny Ludlum Corp., $47 million; Reynolds Metal Co., $93 million; Trans World Airlines, $132 million; Allied Signal, Inc. $92 million; Westinghouse Electric Corp., $286 million; National Steel Corp., $47 million; General Motors Corp., $1 billion.

by CNB