Hormel Foods Sued Over Retirement Plans’ Stable Value Fund (1)

Hormel Foods Corp. mismanages a pair of retirement plans that hold a combined $1.2 billion by filling them with investments in pricey share classes and a stable value fund that provides paltry returns, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The proposed class action centers on a general-account guaranteed investment contract from MassMutual, which isn’t named as a defendant. These types of investments are intended to protect against losses while providing a guaranteed, modest rate of return, but the MassMutual fund offered by Hormel had a substantially lower return than other similar investments despite exposing participants to more risk, according ...