The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has announced that it will pay retirement benefits for more than 21,000 current and future retirees of the Montvale, New Jersey-based Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., a supermarket chain commonly known as A&P.

In addition, PBGC has reached a final agreement with Sears Holdings Corp. that provides substantial protections for the Sears pension plan, which covers nearly 200,000 people. A tentative arrangement was first announced in September 2015. After extensive talks, the agreement is now final.

In the case of A&P, PBGC is stepping in because A&P has sold the majority of its assets in bankruptcy proceedings and most of the buyers declined to keep the plans going. The three plans that PBGC will assume ended on November 30. The agency will pay all pension benefits earned by A&P retirees up to the legal maximum of $60,136 a year for a 65-year-old.