{"id":407088,"date":"2021-01-01T10:08:19","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T15:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/?p=407088"},"modified":"2021-01-01T10:08:19","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T15:08:19","slug":"giant-food-reaches-settlement-agreement-on-felra-and-map-pension-liabilities-no-impact-to-previously-issued-2020-financial-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/giant-food-reaches-settlement-agreement-on-felra-and-map-pension-liabilities-no-impact-to-previously-issued-2020-financial-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant Food Reaches Settlement Agreement on FELRA and MAP Pension Liabilities; No Impact to Previously Issued 2020 Financial Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Zaandam, the Netherlands, January 1, 2021<\/em> \u2013\u00a0Ahold Delhaize today announces the conclusion of negotiations by its U.S. subsidiary, Giant Food, regarding certain of its multi-employer pension plans. <\/p>\n

Giant Food, UFCW Locals 27 and 400 (collectively the \u201cUnion Locals\u201d) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (\u201cPBGC\u201d) have reached an agreement on Giant Food\u2019s funding obligations with respect to two multi-employer pension plans: the Food Employers Labor Relations Association and United Food and Commercial Workers Pension Fund (\u201cFELRA\u201d) and the Mid-Atlantic UFCW and Participating Employers Pension Fund (\u201cMAP\u201d). As a result of this agreement, the PBGC has approved the combining of MAP into FELRA (the \u201cCombined Plan\u201d) and has agreed to provide financial assistance to the Combined Plan following its insolvency, which is currently projected to occur in 2022. The agreement is intended to resolve all of Giant Food\u2019s existing liabilities with respect to the FELRA and MAP Plans and improves the security of pension benefits for associates as well as reduces financial risk for Giant Food. Giant Food will invest approximately $800 million (~\u20ac650 million) into pension benefits for associates as part of this agreement. The pension-related investments announced by Ahold Delhaize during the course of 2020 – including those of National, 1500, and today\u2019s announcement – have greatly reduced Ahold Delhaize\u2019s financial exposure to the multi-employer pension plans of its U.S. brands, Giant Food and Stop & Shop, and were achieved without impacting the 2020 financial outlook due to the strong financial performance in the year-to-date, through Q3 2020 at Ahold Delhaize.<\/p>\n

This agreement will not impact Ahold Delhaize\u2019s previously issued financial guidance for 2020 and is also not expected to have a material impact on Ahold Delhaize\u2019s free cash flows or underlying financial results beyond 2020. Further, this statement should not be interpreted as an update to any component of the previously issued 2020 outlook, announced in the Q3 2020 earnings release.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The agreement consists of the following components:<\/p>\n