BENEFITS BOOM: Some pension plans surpass firm's value;Stock prices lag while retirees' ranks grow.

Pensions & Investments, January, 2000 by Anand, Vineeta

General Motors Corp., the world's largest industrial corporation, has pension fund assets that are almost twice the company's market value. That means GM's pension fund could buy the company and then some if federal pension law did not limit the amount of sponsoring company stock a pension fund may own.

Detroit-based GM had a market capitalization of approximately $40 billion at the end of September, while its defined benefit plan had assets of $69.5 billion, according to an analysis by Pensions & Investments. But GM is not alone. Several others among the nation's largest 100 corporations -- as ranked by Fortune magazine -- share its predicament, P&I found. Lockheed Martin Corp., the Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor, had a market value of $13.2 billion...

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