GE Draws Support in Defending Pension Risk Transfer Lawsuit

The recent legal push against General Electric Co. and other employers that purchased annuities to move workers off their pension plans is an opportunistic attack against routine, legal transactions, the ERISA Industry Committee said in a new amicus brief.

The committee, a trade association representing large employers in their capacity as benefit plan sponsors, defended GE’s 2020 decision to transfer more than $1.7 billion in pension obligations to subsidiaries of Athene Holding Ltd., which retirees have criticized as being overly risky and improperly connected to private equity.

These types of transactions—known as pension risk transfers—are both time-honored and common, the ...