Key Takeaways
- • Eastman Kodak completed the reversion of roughly $1.023 billion in excess assets from its Kodak Retirement Income Plan (KRIP), according to the company's announcement, and used the freed funds to pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet.
- • Kodak's termination was built on selling private-equity and other illiquid assets held by the pension plan, a process that ran roughly two years and is presented by Pensions & Investments as a playbook for corporate plan sponsors.
- • The plan's overfunded status and heavy allocation to illiquid private-equity holdings required a staged approach to converting surplus into usable cash while protecting participants.
- • Pensions & Investments characterizes the case as a template for sponsors weighing plan termination with illiquid assets, with the termination effective March 31, 2025 per publisher context.
Summary
Pensions & Investments reports that Eastman Kodak has provided corporate plan sponsors with a termination playbook drawn from its two-year effort to end the Kodak Retirement Income Plan (KRIP), its U.S. defined benefit pension plan. The publication frames the case as a guide for companies seeking to terminate a plan that holds illiquid assets.
According to Kodak's announcement, the company completed the reversion process for $1.023 billion in excess pension assets and said it freed more than $1 billion to help pay off debts and strengthen its balance sheet. Earlier coverage reported that Kodak had agreed to sell private-equity and other illiquid assets held by the plan as a significant step toward termination. Reporting describes the plan as overfunded and notes that its heavy concentration in illiquid holdings made a straightforward wind-down difficult, requiring Kodak to convert those positions into cash before the surplus could be reverted.
The publisher's context places the termination effective March 31, 2025. Coverage of the strategy also emphasizes balancing participant protection with corporate strength, with the company using surplus assets in a manner intended to protect plan participants while improving its finances.
For institutional allocators and plan sponsors, the Kodak case illustrates the operational steps involved in terminating a plan with illiquid private-equity exposure, including the sequencing of asset sales, the timing of the reversion, and the use of surplus proceeds for corporate purposes.
According to Kodak's announcement, the company completed the reversion process for $1.023 billion in excess pension assets and said it freed more than $1 billion to help pay off debts and strengthen its balance sheet. Earlier coverage reported that Kodak had agreed to sell private-equity and other illiquid assets held by the plan as a significant step toward termination. Reporting describes the plan as overfunded and notes that its heavy concentration in illiquid holdings made a straightforward wind-down difficult, requiring Kodak to convert those positions into cash before the surplus could be reverted.
The publisher's context places the termination effective March 31, 2025. Coverage of the strategy also emphasizes balancing participant protection with corporate strength, with the company using surplus assets in a manner intended to protect plan participants while improving its finances.
For institutional allocators and plan sponsors, the Kodak case illustrates the operational steps involved in terminating a plan with illiquid private-equity exposure, including the sequencing of asset sales, the timing of the reversion, and the use of surplus proceeds for corporate purposes.
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