"The big question seems to be "are the retirement assets...

"The big question seems to be "are the retirement assets correctly valued?". Certainly if they are, then we should be on a winner."

If they are retaining the retirement assets the book value I feel is of little consequence to the profitability of the company (providing no LTV covinants are not broken)
Really it is how well the retirement business performs which will be reflected in an EV value
Microsoft has a pathetic book value but is valued on EV