Nationwide Financial Services Inc. said it is in preliminary discussions to sell some of its retail mutual funds.
The Columbus, Ohio, company and its parent company, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., said Wednesday in a press release that the discussions are mainly about Nationwide Mutual's retail mutual funds operations in Philadelphia, where the firm has $425 billion of mutual fund assets under management.
The boards of Nationwide Financial and Nationwide Mutual have created committees of independent board members "to review and evaluate a possible transaction." In conjunction with that review, Nationwide Mutual sold its London asset management arm, Gartmore Global Investments Inc., in September.
Nationwide Mutual also said it is reviewing its remaining asset management businesses, which are not located in Philadelphia.
