Postretirement and Other Employee Benefits

3 Months Ended

Nov. 30, 2019

Postretirement and Other Employee Benefits

Postretirement Benefits

Net Periodic Benefit Cost

The following table provides information about the net periodic benefit cost for all plans for the three months ended November 30, 2019 and 2018 (in thousands):



	Three months ended
	November 30, 2019			November 30, 2018
Service cost ⁽¹⁾	$	4,463		$	295
Interest cost ⁽²⁾	763			885
Expected long-term return on plan assets ⁽²⁾	(2,786		)	(1,352		)
Recognized actuarial loss ⁽²⁾	223			208
Amortization of prior service credit ⁽²⁾	(11		)	(12		)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	2,652		$	24


⁽¹⁾	Service cost is recognized in cost of revenue in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations.


⁽²⁾	Components are recognized in other expense in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations.

Acquired Plan

As a result of the third closing of the JJMD acquisition, the Company assumed a pension obligation for employees in Switzerland (the “Switzerland plan”). The Switzerland plan, which is a qualified defined benefit pension plan, provides benefits based on average employee earnings over an approximately 8 years service period preceding retirement and length of employee service. The Company’s policy is to contribute amounts sufficient to meet minimum funding requirements as set forth in Switzerland employee benefit and tax laws plus such additional amounts as are deemed appropriate by the Company.

The following tables provide information only related to the Switzerland plan as of the acquisition date, September 30, 2019, and are preliminary estimates.

Benefit Obligation and Plan Assets

The benefit obligations and plan assets, changes to the benefit obligation and plan assets and the funded status of the Switzerland plan as of September 30, 2019 are as follows (in thousands):



	September 30, 2019
Ending projected benefit obligation	$	(404,297	)
Ending fair value of plan assets	$	345,473
Unfunded status	$	(58,824	)

Cash Flows

The Company expects to make cash contributions between $9.5 million and $11.7 million to its Switzerland pension plan during fiscal year 2020. The estimated future benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, are as follows (in thousands):



Fiscal Year Ended August 31,	Amount
2020	$	24,698
2021	21,698
2022	20,098
2023	18,398
2024	17,298
2025 through 2029	82,992

Accumulated Benefit Obligation

The following table provides information for the Switzerland plan with an accumulated benefit obligation as of September 30, 2019 (in thousands):



	September 30, 2019
Projected benefit obligation	$	(404,297	)
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	(394,427	)
Fair value of plan assets	$	345,473