International Business Machines Corp. said late Tuesday it will book a charge of about $5.9 billion in the third quarter to offload pension risk. The Armonk, NY-based tech company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it is transferring about $16 billion of pension obligations, for benefits that began to be paid before 2016, through group annuity contracts to Prudential Financial Inc. and MetLife Inc. The contracts cover 100,000 IBM participants and beneficiaries. Net of tax, the charge for the transfer will be $4.4 billion, IBM said, and will not affect the company’s adjusted profit or free cash flow. Shares of IBM were little changed after hours, following a 2.6% decline in the regular session to close at $127.25.
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