26312 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 6, 2018 / Notices 

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY 

CORPORATION 

Pendency of Request for Exemption 

From the Bond/Escrow Requirement 

Relating to the Sale of Assets by an 

Employer Who Contributes to a 

Multiemployer Plan; Marlins Holdings 

LLC 

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation. 

ACTION: Notice of pendency of request. 

SUMMARY: This notice advises interested 

persons that the Pension Benefit 

Guaranty Corporation has received a 

request from Marlins Holdings LLC for 

an exemption from the bond or escrow 

requirement and contract requirements 

under the Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act of 1974, as amended, with 

respect to the Major League Baseball 

Players Benefit Plan. A sale of assets by 

an employer that contributes to a 

multiemployer pension plan will not 

constitute a complete or partial 

withdrawal from the plan if the 

transaction meets certain conditions. 

One of these conditions is that the 

purchaser post a bond or deposit money 

in escrow for the five-plan-year period 

beginning after the sale. The PBGC is 

authorized to grant individual and class 

exemptions from this requirement. 

Before granting an exemption, the 

statute and PBGC regulations require 

PBGC to give interested persons an 

opportunity to comment on the 

exemption request. The purpose of this 

notice is to advise interested persons of 

the exemption request and solicit their 

views on it. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before July 23, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Email: reg.comments@pbgc.gov. 

Refer to the Marlins Holdings LLC in the 

subject line. 

• Mail or Hand Delivery: Regulatory 

Affairs Division, Office of the General 

Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation, 1200 K Street NW, 

Washington, DC 20005–4026. 

All submissions received must 

include the agency’s name (Pension 

Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or PBGC) 

and refer to Marlins Holdings LLC. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to PBGC’s website, 

http://www.pbgc.gov, including any 

personal information provided. Copies 

of comments may also be obtained by 

writing to Disclosure Division, Office of 

the General Counsel, Pension Benefit 

Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street 

NW, Washington, DC 20005–4026 or 

calling 202–326–4040 during normal 

business hours. (TTY users may call the 

Federal relay service toll-free at 1–800– 

877–8339 and ask to be connected to 

202–326–4040.) 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bruce Perlin, Assistant General Counsel 

(Perlin.Bruce@PBGC.gov), 202–326– 

4020, ext. 6818, Jon Chatalian, Acting 

Assistant General Counsel 

(Chatalian.Jon@PBGC.gov), ext. 6757, or 

Mary A. Petrovic, Attorney 

(Petrovic.Mary@PBGC.gov), ext. 4638, 

Office of the General Counsel, Suite 340, 

1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 

20005–4026; (TTY/TDD users may call 

the Federal relay service toll-free at 1– 

800–877–8339 and ask to be connected 

to 202–326–4020.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Section 4204 of the Employee 

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 

as amended by the Multiemployer 

Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 

(ERISA), provides that a bona fide 

arm’s-length sale of assets of a 

contributing employer to an unrelated 

party will not be considered a 

withdrawal if three conditions are met. 

These conditions, enumerated in section 

4204(a)(1)(A)–(C), are that— 

(A) the purchaser has an obligation to 

contribute to the plan with respect to 

covered operations for substantially the 

same number of contribution base units 

for which the seller was obligated to 

contribute; 

(B) the purchaser obtains a bond or 

places an amount in escrow, for a period 

of five plan years after the sale, equal to 

the greater of the seller’s average 

required annual contribution to the plan 

for the three plan years preceding the 

year in which the sale occurred or the 

seller’s required annual contribution for 

the plan year preceding the year in 

which the sale occurred; and 

(C) the contract of sale provides that 

if the purchaser withdraws from the 

plan within the first five plan years 

beginning after the sale and fails to pay 

any of its liability to the plan, the seller 

shall be secondarily liable for the 

liability it (the seller) would have had 

but for section 4204. 

The bond or escrow described above 

would be paid to the plan if the 

purchaser withdraws from the plan or 

fails to make any required contributions 

to the plan within the first five plan 

years beginning after the sale. 

Additionally, section 4204(b)(1) of 

ERISA provides that if a sale of assets 

is covered by section 4204, the 

purchaser assumes by operation of law 

the contribution record of the seller for 

the plan year in which the sale occurred 

and the preceding four plan years. 

Section 4204(c) of ERISA authorizes 

the Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation (‘‘PBGC’’) to grant 

individual or class variances or 

exemptions from the purchaser’s bond/ 

escrow requirement of section 

4204(a)(1)(B) when warranted. The 

legislative history of section 4204 

indicates a Congressional intent that the 

statute be administered in a manner that 

assures protection of the plan with the 

least practicable intrusion into normal 

business transactions. Senate Committee 

on Labor and Human Resources, 96th 

Cong., 2nd Sess., S.1076, The 

Multiemployer Pension Plan 

Amendments Act of 1980: Summary 

and Analysis of Considerations 16 

(Comm. Print, April 1980); 128 Cong. 

Rec. S10117 (July 29, 1980). The 

granting of a variance or exemption 

from the bond/escrow requirement does 

not constitute a finding by the PBGC 

that a particular transaction satisfies the 

other requirements of section 4204(a)(1). 

Under the PBGC’s regulation on 

variances for sales of assets (29 CFR part 

4204), a request for a variance or 

exemption from the bond/escrow 

requirement under any of the tests 

established in the regulation (29 CFR 

parts 4204.12 & 4204.13) is to be made 

to the plan in question. The PBGC will 

consider a variance or exemption 

request only when the request is not 

based on satisfaction of one of the four 

regulatory tests under regulation 

sections 4204.12 and 4204.13 or when 

the parties assert that the financial 

information necessary to show 

satisfaction of one of the regulatory tests 

is privileged or confidential financial 

information within the meaning of 5 

U.S.C. 552(b)(4) (Freedom of 

Information Act). 

Under section 4204.22 of the 

regulation, the PBGC shall approve a 

request for a variance or exemption if it 

determines that approval of the request 

is warranted, in that it— 

(1) would more effectively or 

equitably carry out the purposes of Title 

IV of the Act; and 

(2) would not significantly increase 

the risk of financial loss to the plan. 

Section 4204(c) of ERISA and section 

4204.22(b) of the regulation require the 

PBGC to publish a notice of the 

pendency of a request for a variance or 

exemption in the Federal Register, and 

to provide interested parties with an 

opportunity to comment on the 

proposed variance or exemption. 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 6, 2018 / Notices 26313 

The Request 

The PBGC has received a request from 

Marlins Holdings LLC (the ‘‘Purchaser’’) 

for an exemption from the bond or 

escrow requirement and contract 

requirements of section 4204(a)(1)(B) 

and (C) with respect to its purchase of 

the Miami Marlins Major League 

Baseball franchise from Miami Marlins, 

L.P. (the ‘‘Seller’’) on February 21, 2018. 

In the request, the Purchaser represents 

among other things that: 

1. The Seller was obligated to 

contribute to the Major League Baseball 

Players Benefit Plan (the ‘‘Plan’’) for 

certain employees of the sold 

operations. 

2. The Purchaser has agreed to assume 

the obligation to contribute to the Plan 

for substantially the same number of 

contribution base units as the Seller. 

3. The Seller has agreed to be 

secondarily liable for any withdrawal 

liability it would have had with respect 

to the sold operations (if not for section 

4204) should the Purchaser withdraw 

from the Plan and fail to pay its 

withdrawal liability. 

4. The estimated amount of the 

withdrawal liability of the Seller with 

respect to the operations subject to the 

sale is $19,169,342. 

5. The amount of the bond/escrow 

established under section 4204(a)(1)(B) 

is $4,781,000. 

6. Major League Baseball has a unique 

structure in which the Plan is funded 

from the Major League Central Fund 

(the ‘‘Central Fund’’), maintained and 

administered by the Commissioner of 

Baseball. Under this structure, 

contributions to the Plan for all 

participating employers are paid by the 

Office of the Commissioner of Baseball 

from the Central Fund on behalf of each 

participating employer in satisfaction of 

the employer’s pension liability under 

the Plan’s funding agreement. The 

monies in the Central Fund are derived 

directly from common revenues related 

to the All-Star Game, post-season games, 

certain media rights and other common 

revenues (collectively, the ‘‘Revenues’’). 

7. In support of the exemption 

request, the requester asserts that, ‘‘the 

Plan is funded from the Central Fund 

that is maintained and administered by 

the Commissioner of Baseball.’’ Major 

League Baseball pays contributions 

directly to the Plan from the Central 

Fund. Further, the requester asserts that, 

‘‘the Plan enjoys a substantial degree of 

security with respect to contributions on 

behalf of the Clubs. A change in 

ownership of a Club does not affect the 

obligation of the Central Fund to fund 

the Plan. As such, approval of this 

exemption request would not increase 

the risk of financial loss to the Plan.’’ 

8. A complete copy of the request was 

sent to the Plan and to the Major League 

Baseball Players Association by certified 

mail, return receipt requested. 

Comments 

All interested persons are invited to 

submit written comments on the 

pending exemption request to the above 

address. All comments will be made a 

part of the record. The PBGC will make 

the comments received available on its 

website, www.pbgc.gov. Copies of the 

comments and the non-confidential 

portions of the request may be obtained 

by writing or visiting the PBGC’s 

Communications Outreach and 

Legislative Affairs Department (COLA) 

at the above address or by visiting that 

office or calling 202–326–4343 during 

normal business hours. 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

William Reeder, 

Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12129 Filed 6–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7709–01–P 

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION 

[Docket No. CP2018–227] 

New Postal Product 

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a 

recent Postal Service filing for the 

Commission’s consideration concerning 

negotiated service agreements. This 

notice informs the public of the filing, 

invites public comment, and takes other 

administrative steps. 

DATES: Comments are due: June 7, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

electronically via the Commission’s 

Filing Online system at http://

www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit 

comments electronically should contact 

the person identified in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section by 

telephone for advice on filing 

alternatives. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 

202–789–6820. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Introduction 

II. Docketed Proceeding(s) 

I. Introduction 

The Commission gives notice that the 

Postal Service has filed request(s) for the 

Commission to consider matters related 

to negotiated service agreement(s). The 

requests(s) may propose the addition or 

removal of a negotiated service 

agreement from the market dominant or 

the competitive product list, or the 

modification of an existing product 

currently appearing on the market 

dominant or the competitive product 

list. 

Section II identifies the docket 

number(s) associated with each Postal 

Service request, the title of each Postal 

Service request, the request’s acceptance 

date, and the authority cited by the 

Postal Service for each request. For each 

request, the Commission appoints an 

officer of the Commission to represent 

the interests of the general public in the 

proceeding, pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505 

(Public Representative). Section II also 

establishes comment deadline(s) 

pertaining to each request. 

The public portions of the Postal 

Service’s request(s) can be accessed via 

the Commission’s website (http://

www.prc.gov). Non-public portions of 

the Postal Service’s request(s), if any, 

can be accessed through compliance 

with the requirements of 39 CFR 

3007.40. 

The Commission invites comments on 

whether the Postal Service’s request(s) 

in the captioned docket(s) are consistent 

with the policies of title 39. For 

request(s) that the Postal Service states 

concern market dominant product(s), 

applicable statutory and regulatory 

requirements include 39 U.S.C. 3622, 39 

U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR part 3010, and 39 

CFR part 3020, subpart B. For request(s) 

that the Postal Service states concern 

competitive product(s), applicable 

statutory and regulatory requirements 

include 39 U.S.C. 3632, 39 U.S.C. 3633, 

39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR part 3015, and 

39 CFR part 3020, subpart B. Comment 

deadline(s) for each request appear in 

section II. 

II. Docketed Proceeding(s) 

1. Docket No(s).: CP2018–227; Filing 

Title: Notice of United States Postal 

Service of Filing a Functionally 

Equivalent Global Expedited Package 

Services 7 Negotiated Service 

Agreement and Application for NonPublic Treatment of Material Filed 

Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: 

May 30, 2018; Filing Authority: 39 CFR 

3015.5; Public Representative: Kenneth 

R. Moeller; Comments Due: June 7, 

2018. 

This notice will be published in the 

Federal Register. 

Ruth Ann Abrams, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12089 Filed 6–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P 


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