McDermott Incorporated Master Trust

The Chapter 11 filing triggered oversight by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for specific pension plans held inside the trust. The restructuring separated legacy liabilities and forced a reckoning with underfunding risks tied to the sponsor's balance sheet. McDermott International emerged from bankruptcy later in 2020, stabilizing the trust's near-term funding outlook (per Reuters, January 2020).

Prior to the 2010 spin-off of Babcock & Wilcox from McDermott International, pension plans for B&W employees were commingled inside the McDermott Incorporated Master Trust. The corporate separation divided those assets, leaving the Master Trust with a more concentrated liability pool tied to McDermott's own active and retired workforce.

Public disclosures do not confirm direct project-level investments by the trust itself. While McDermott International builds LNG terminals, offshore platforms, and hydrogen facilities worldwide, the trust's known allocations point to global real estate and defined contribution plan assets. Any overlap between the trust's portfolio and the sponsor's project finance activities remains undisclosed.

The PBGC, a US government agency that insures private-sector defined benefit pensions, assumed a supervisory role over certain McDermott pension plans during the 2020 bankruptcy. That engagement is typical when a plan sponsor enters Chapter 11 with underfunded pension obligations. The PBGC's involvement specifically targeted plans inside the master trust that faced shortfalls at the time of the filing.