Montgomery has tapped Nationwide's Gartmore Group to subadvise four funds for Montgomery Asset Management. It also hired William Santos from Montgomery, according to a report by Dow Jones News Wires. Santos had been director of marketing at Montgomery and headed its alternative-investments division.

The news report was sparked by an SEC filing suggesting that Nationwide would be taking control the four Montgomery Funds that it did not included in a sale to Wells Fargo last November. Montgomery is an affiliate of Germany's Commerzbank. A Gartmore spokesperson confirmed that Gartmore will become a subadvisor on the funds, but she declined to comment further until the firm issues a formal statement. The Dow Jones report suggested the funds will be folded into equivalent Gartmore offerings, but the spokesperson suggested that report was inaccurate.

Officials at Montgomery, including CEO Scott Tuck, could not be reached for comment. Bill Santos' voicemail message noted that he left Montgomery on January 17, but did not state whether he had indeed joined Gartmore. Other sources at Gartmore stated that Santos and some other ex-Montgomery executives did make the move to Gartmore. Santos could not be reached on at his personal phone numbers for comment.

The SEC filing revealed that Gartmore Global Asset Management Trust would subadvise the $23 million Montgomery Partners Absolute Return Fund, a fund of hedge fund. the $24 million Montgomery Global Opportunities Fund and the $28 million Montgomery Global Focus Fund and that Gartmore Mutual Fund Capital Trust will subadvise the $58 million Montgomery Global Long-Short Fund.

Final approval of the mandate is dependent on a proxy-vote by shareholders.  

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