Koskie Minsky statement on Nortel Canadian pension plan administrator

The following statement regarding the new pension administrator was posted on the Koskie Minsky site. It also provides a link to the Financial Services of Ontario web site with some more details of the change in administration.

September 23, 2010
Version française disponible plus bas (see K.M. site for French version)

The Superintendent of Financial Services announced today that it has appointed Morneau Sobeco Limited Partnership (Morneau Sobeco) as the new plan administrator, effective October 1, 2010, for Nortel's two defined benefit pension plans:
the Nortel Networks Negotiated Pension Plan (registration number 587766), and the Nortel Networks Limited Managerial and Non-Negotiated Pension Plan (registration\ number 342048) (the "Pension Plans").

In accordance with the March 31 Court-approved Settlement Agreement, Nortel will cease to make contributions to the Pension Plans and will no longer act as plan administrator effective September 30, 2010. Going forward, Morneau Sobeco will be the administrator of the Nortel pension plans and ultimately will be responsible for the wind-up of the Pension Plans. Morneau Sobeco was selected as the wind-up administrator through a tendering process. Given the firm's level of experience in pension plan wind-ups, we have confidence in their competence and in their ability to deal with large scale pension plan wind-ups such as Nortel's.

Effective October , 2010, questions should be directed to the new plan administrator, Morneau Sobeco Limited Partnership at www.morneausobeco.com. To review more information about the Superintendent's recent appointment, please visit the Financial Services Commission of Ontario website at http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/english/pensions/nortel.asp.

While there will be changes to the administration of the Pension Plans effective October 1, 2010, there should be no immediate change to your pension. You should receive your normal pension cheque in October. Once Morneau Sobeco's appointment takes effect on October 1, a review of the Pension Plans will commence and a wind-up report will be prepared. You may experience a reduction to your pension in the future, likely after the wind-up report is completed and approved, as necessary. We will post more information on our website as it becomes available.