Georgia-Pacific Pension Fund

Georgia-Pacific Pension Fund

The Georgia-Pacific LLC Salaried Pension Plan is the defined benefit vehicle for the paper and building products giant's salaried workforce. Koch Industries acquired Georgia-Pacific in 2005, and the pension's assets are now pooled within the Koch Companies Defined Benefit Master Trust, a legal structure that combines multiple Koch subsidiary retirement plans for investment purposes. This master trust arrangement means the Georgia-Pacific plan does not operate autonomously; its fate is tied to the investment performance and governance of the Koch system's central asset pool. Strategy flows from the Master Trust's overarching policy, which emphasizes long-term total return through a diversified mix of public equities, fixed income, and a significant allocation to private markets. Real estate forms a visible component: direct holdings known to the system include positions in Cominar REIT and Howard Hughes Corp, alongside commercial property vehicles managed by CBRE. The investment team draws on personnel and strategies shared with 1888 Management, the Koch family office, creating a blurring of the line between a corporate pension and a family-backed institutional investor. Richard Dinkel, CFO of Koch Industries, sits on the investment committee, anchoring governance at the parent-company level. While the plan's specific headcount and total assets are not broken out from the master trust, the consolidated pool is a multi-billion dollar investor with a multi-decade horizon. The Georgia-Pacific Foundation operates as a distinct philanthropic entity, connected to the corporation rather than the pension pool itself. In September 2023, Koch Industries announced a reorganization of its capital markets and investment functions, a move that further integrated the master trust's activities with the broader corporate treasury. The structural differentiator is its embeddedness. The plan is not an independent allocator conducting its own manager searches; it is a beneficiary unit inside a single, centralized investment apparatus that also serves the Koch family's private capital. This creates a sourcing advantage—co-investments and manager relationships developed for 1888 Management can be allocated to the master trust—but eliminates the plan-specific governance and transparency that standalone pension funds provide their participants.