NCR offers pension buyout to 20,000

Duluth-based NCR, attempting again to cut pension costs, said Tuesday that it will offer lump-sum pension buyouts to about 20,000 former employees or beneficiaries already receiving the benefits.

Participation is voluntary.

The company is offering to pay an amount representing the present value of the recipients monthly pension benefit. That will enable NCR to shed some liabilities tied to ensuring pension payments that spread out decades into the future. The company said it also will reduce expenses tied to its pension.

“This offer is part of our pension transformation and is consistent with our overall de-risking strategy,” company treasurer John Boudreau said in an NCR press release.

In 2012 the company offered a somewhat similar program, but it was aimed at about 23,000 former employees who had not begun drawing pension benefits.