Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Employees and retirees of Stant Manufacturing’s Pine Bluff plant will not be affected by a federal agency’s takeover of three of Stant’s pension plans, an executive with the company said today.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation announced Tuesday it would take over underfunded pension plans covering about 900 employees and retirees of Connersville, Ind.-based Stant and its U.S. subsidiaries.

Mark Smith, Stant’s director of North American operations, said the affected plans cover employees and retirees outside Arkansas.

The company, which makes automotive heating, cooling and emission control systems, employs about 310 people in Pine Bluff.