Employee Benefit Plans

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Employee Benefit Plans Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans Disclosure [Text Block]

11. Employee Benefit Plans

Certain of the Company’s subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, or UK, Harvard Apparatus Limited and Biochrom Limited, maintain contributory, defined benefit or defined contribution pension plans for substantially all of their employees. As of the quarter ended September 30, 2014, the principal employer of the Harvard Apparatus Limited pension plan was changed from Harvard Apparatus Limited to Biochrom Limited. As of the quarter ended June 30, 2014, these defined benefit pension plans were closed to new employees, as well as closed to the future accrual of benefits for existing employees. The components of the Company’s defined benefit pension expense were as follows:

		Three Months Ended				Six Months Ended
		June 30,				June 30,
		2015		2014		2015		2014
		(in thousands)
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost	$	-	$	(8)	$	-	$	-
Interest cost		190		227		367		448
Expected return on plan assets		(179)		(167)		(345)		(330)
Net amortization loss		81		46		156		91
Net periodic benefit cost	$	92	$	98	$	178	$	209

For the three months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, the Company contributed $0.2 million, for both periods, to its defined benefit pension plans. For the six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014, the Company contributed $0.4 million, for both periods, to its defined benefit pension plans. The Company expects to contribute approximately $0.4 million to its defined benefit pension plans during the remainder of 2015.

During the three months ended June 30, 2014 the Company wrote down its Level 3 investment in a longevity fund by an additional $0.6 million, which reduced its value to $0. The impact on accumulated other comprehensive loss was $0.5 million, net of tax. The longevity fund invests in a portfolio of physical life insurance settlements that had been historically valued using the net asset values provided by the fund. Since June 2011, the fund has been closed to all activity. The write down during the three months ended June 30, 2014 was due, in part, to communication from the longevity fund regarding its continued illiquidity and inactivity. There has been no change in the status of the longevity fund since the quarter ended June 30, 2014.

As of June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the Company had an underfunded pension liability of approximately $4.6 million and $4.4 million, respectively, included in the other liabilities – non-current line item in the consolidated balance sheets.