Appropriate early retirement factor

[Gary]

Say a person retires from a company, but he first worked for one company and that company was merged into another company and then that merged company was again merged into yet another company. Finally when he retires his pension is based on a frozen benefit from both the first and the second companies and an additional portion from the company he retired from. He retires at age 58. The plan states that his early ret factor for the frozen pensions s/b no less than what it would have been under the prior plans.

Is it reasonable to use the factor from the company he retired from for the prior frozen benefits as well (it happens to of course be a higher factor)?

There is nothing in plan that is specific, except for the fact that it protects the prior plan factors.

Any thoughts, observations?

Look at it from the angle of the plan participant or from an objective angle (if possible).

Gary.