US Nationwide Mutual is the fourth owner to have a crack at running UK asset manager Gartmore but five years after buying it, the insurance group is calling it a day.

Gartmore started life as part of British & Commonwealth in 1969. It was acquired by Banque Indosuez in 1989 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1993. In 1996 it was acquired by NatWest Bank and four years later was sold to Nationwide Mutual for £1bn. After the bear market, Nationwide wrote down Gartmore's value to £613m in 2002, taking an impairment charge of £376m.