22 February 2010
The Pensions Regulator has filed a £2.1bn claim in a
Canadian court against Nortel Networks. The Regulator confirmed it
had served a warning notice on the failed telecommunications
equipment producer - which filed for bankruptcy in 2009 - to secure
the UK company pension scheme's share of Nortel assets.
Nortel has until 1 March to make representations to the
Regulator
The Nortel UK pension scheme has more than 43,000 members and is
currently in the Pension Protection Fund assessment process.
According to a statement from the Nortel Networks UK Pension
Scheme trustee board, the initial 'best cost' of buying out full
plan benefits from an insurance company is estimated to be
£3.6bn and as the unaudited estimate of the value of the plan
assets was £1.5bn at the close of business on 13 January
2009, this leads to a deficit of £2.1bn.
