Big things are happening at Nationwide. The firm is looking to beef up its core businesses. One major step Nationwide is taking is a stock swap. Nationwide Mutual will exchange 8 million shares of Nationwide Financial (NYSE: NFS) common stock for Nationwide Financial's interest in Gartmore Global Investments. Gartmore is a unit of Nationwide Financial and formerly known as Villanova Capital.

"After the close of the transaction, the international and domestic asset management businesses of Nationwide will share a common ownership structure. Paul Hondros will continue to lead these companies," stated W.G. Jurgensen, ceo at Nationwide. "The combined entity -- Gartmore Group -- will manage $77 billion in assets and will be better positioned to effectively grow and compete in the global asset management business."

"This transaction is an important step in focusing and simplifying the Nationwide business model around our three core businesses, domestic property-casualty, global life and retirement savings and global asset management," the executive continued.

"This transaction gives Nationwide Financial the opportunity to unlock the value of the asset management business that we have built," added Joseph Gasper, president and coo of Nationwide Financial. "Our strategic focus going forward in the asset management space will focus on the distribution of mutual funds, versus the manufacturing of mutual funds."

The move is expected to be completed by the end of June. 

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