Excerpt: It has been reported that financial institutions have been eyeing underfunded or 'frozen' corporate pension plans as a new line of business. The transaction being contemplated is a sort of rescue operation that involves a transfer of the stock of a 'shell' subsidiary to the financial institution, after the plan sponsor does two things: transfers sponsorship of the plan to the shell subsidiary, and injects sufficient assets into the plan to cure the underfunding.  MORE >>