General Motors 2012 Annual Report Download - page 54

GENERAL MOTORS COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
Defined Benefit Pension Plan Contributions
Eligible U.S. salaried employees hired prior to January 2001 participated in a defined benefit pension plan which was frozen as of
September 30, 2012. All eligible salaried employees now participate in a defined contribution plan. Hourly employees hired prior to
October 15, 2007 generally participate in plans which provide benefits of stated amounts for each year of service as well as
supplemental benefits for employees who retire with 30 years of service before normal retirement age. Hourly employees hired after
October 15, 2007 participate in a defined contribution plan. Our policy for qualified defined benefit pension plans is to contribute
annually not less than the minimum required by applicable law and regulation, or to directly pay benefit payments where appropriate.
At December 31, 2012 all legal funding requirements had been met. We expect to contribute $0.1 billion to our U.S. non-qualified
plans and $0.8 billion to our non-U.S. pension plans in 2013.
The following table summarizes contributions made to the defined benefit pension plans or direct payments (dollars in millions):
Years Ended December 31,
2012 2011 2010
U.S. hourly and salaried .................................................................. $2,420 $1,962 $4,095
Non-U.S. ............................................................................. 855 836 777
Total contributions ...................................................................... $3,275 $2,798 $4,872
In 2012 we provided short-term, interest-free, unsecured loans to the Retiree Plan to provide the plan with incremental liquidity to
pay ongoing benefits and administrative costs. In August 2012 we loaned the Retiree Plan $2.0 billion with principal due within 90
days. In the three months ended December 31, 2012 $1.5 billion of the $2.0 billion loan was contributed to the Retiree Plan, $0.3
billion was repaid to us and the remaining $0.3 billion, which had been converted into a new interest-free loan, is due on or before
April 15, 2013. In October 2012 we provided a loan of $0.2 billion to the Retiree Plan that was repaid to us in December 2012. At
December 31, 2012 $0.2 billion of the remaining $0.3 billion loan was deemed a contribution. Amounts loaned to the Retiree Plan in
excess of the ultimate funding requirements will be repaid to us.
We made a voluntary contribution in January 2011 to our U.S. hourly and salaried defined benefit pension plans of 61 million
shares of our common stock, valued at $2.2 billion for funding purposes at the time of contribution. The contributed shares qualified
as a plan asset for funding purposes at the time of contribution and as a plan asset valued at $1.9 billion for accounting purposes in
July 2011. This was a voluntary contribution above our funding requirements for the pension plans.
The following table summarizes the underfunded status of pension plans on a U.S. GAAP basis (dollars in billions):
December 31, 2012 December 31, 2011
U.S. hourly and salaried .......................................................... $13.1 $13.3
U.S. nonqualified ............................................................... 0.9 0.9
Total U.S. pension plans .......................................................... 14.0 14.2
Non-U.S. ...................................................................... 13.8 11.2
Total underfunded ............................................................... $27.8 $25.4
The U.S. pension plans were underfunded by $14.0 billion and $14.2 billion at December 31, 2012 and 2011. The change in funded
status was due primarily to: (1) actuarial losses due primarily to discount rate decreases of $8.4 billion; and (2) service and interest
costs of $4.5 billion; partially offset by (3) actual return on plan assets of $10.3 billion; and (4) contributions of $2.4 billion.
The non-U.S. pension plans were underfunded by $13.8 billion and $11.2 billion at December 31, 2012 and 2011. The change in
funded status was due primarily to: (1) actuarial losses of $2.8 billion; (2) service and interest costs of $1.5 billion; (3) net unfavorable
General Motors Company 2012 ANNUAL REPORT 51