- Transfers liabilities and related assets for approximately 8,000 U.S. retirees and their beneficiaries
- Benefits entrusted to a global financial institution with expertise in long-term management of retirement benefits
Bristol-Myers
Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today announced it will settle $1.4
billion in pension obligations through the purchase of a group annuity
contract from The Prudential Insurance Company of America (Prudential)
(NYSE:PRU) for approximately 8,000 U.S. retirees and their beneficiaries
who started receiving their monthly retirement benefit payments on or
before June 1, 2014. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s U.S. Retirement Plan (“the
Plan”) is in a strong financial position, and the obligations associated
with this transaction will require no additional cash contributions by
the company. There will be no change to the monthly retirement benefit
payments currently received by retirees and their beneficiaries. All
other plan participants will stay in the company’s Plan, which is
well-funded to ensure benefit payments to future retirees and
beneficiaries.
The transaction reduces risk in the Plan and better manages the ongoing
variations in cost associated with its maintenance while entrusting
current retirees and their beneficiaries’ pensions to a financial
institution with expertise in the long-term management of retirement
benefits.
Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to the long-term financial health of
the Plan and has taken steps to protect all participants of the Plan. As
part of this transaction, the company’s Pension Committee engaged
Fiduciary Counselors Inc., a leading independent fiduciary services
firm, to represent the Plan and all of its participants and their
beneficiaries, including those remaining in the Plan, to objectively
select the safest available annuity as defined by the U.S. Department of
Labor standards. Fiduciary Counselors selected a Prudential contract
that provides an additional safeguard by segregating assets in a
separate account dedicated to the payment of benefits to plan retirees
and their beneficiaries.
All other participants and their beneficiaries in the company’s Plan
with accrued benefits will remain in the current Plan, including
retirees who participate in collectively bargained plans or the Puerto
Rico plan as well as certain retirees with variable benefit payments.
The transfer to Prudential is expected to occur in December 2014 and is
subject to satisfaction of closing conditions. Upon completion of the
transfer, Prudential will assume full financial responsibility for
making the annuity payments provided under the group annuity contract.
Retirees and beneficiaries who will transfer to Prudential will be
receiving individualized information packages with further details and
answers to frequently asked questions.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission
is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help
patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please
visit www.bms.com
or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
About Prudential
Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public,
private, and non-profit organizations. Services include defined
contribution, defined benefit and non-qualified deferred compensation
record keeping, administrative services, investment management,
comprehensive employee education and communications, and trustee
services, as well as a variety of products and strategies, including
institutional investment and income products, pension risk transfer
solutions and structured settlement services. With over 85 years of
retirement experience, Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of
over 4.0 million participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has
$330.5 billion in retirement account values as of June 30, 2014.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU), a financial services leader with
more than $1.1 trillion of assets under management as of June 30, 2014,
has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping
individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth
through a variety of products and services, including life insurance,
annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment
management. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for
strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century.
For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.
Retirement products and services are provided by Prudential Retirement
Insurance and Annuity Company (PRIAC), Hartford, CT, or its affiliates.)
Insurance products are issued by The Prudential Insurance Company of
America (PICA), Newark, NJ, a Prudential Financial company solely
responsible for its financial condition and contractual obligations.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term
is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve
inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay,
divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and
results to differ materially from current expectations. No
forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Among other risks, there is
no guarantee that the transaction will occur on the terms or within the
time frame described in this release. Forward-looking statements
in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks
and uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, including
those identified in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2013, in our Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol- Myers
Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.