Defined Benefits

The holdings and investments in the 100 largest public-employee pension systems in the U.S. are at their highest level since 1968.

Prudential Financial Inc., the second-largest U.S. life insurer, agreed to take on $1.4 billion of pension liabilities from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. as the drugmaker works to limit retirement obligations.

Pacific Investment Management Co.s Chief Executive Officer Douglas Hodge said the firm is expecting and is ready for client redemptions following the departure of co-founder Bill Gross.

Gross, 70, who co-founded Pimco more than four decades ago and managed the worlds biggest bond fund, will start Sept. 29 at Janus Capital Group Inc.

Retirement assets, accounting for 36 percent of all household financial assets in the U.S., rose by 2.8 percent in the second quarter.

The panel said the states combined liabilities in pensions and retiree health-care costs are about $90 billion.