A company decided to shed its industrial products businesses and to merge with another company. It had an obligation to its senior executives, who would be retiring, to fund its defined benefit pension plan with a sufficient amount to meet its future commitments. Based on the age and salaries of its retiring executives, the company estimated future payments of -

• Year 1 through 5 - $50M per year
• 6 through 12 - $40M per year
• 13 through 18 - $30M per year
• 19 through 25 - $20M per year
• At the end of year 25 the fund would have met its obligations to the retirees.

How much did the company have to fund at year 0 to meet these distributions? Assume funds were invested to earn 8% per year and payments were made annually at the end of the year.