Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio, a multiline insurer, announced an offer to reacquire all of the stock of a financial services affiliate that has been publicly traded since March 1997.
Nationwide Mutual has sent shareholders of the affiliate, Nationwide Financial Services Inc., Columbus, an offer to buy their stock for about $2.2 billion cash, or $47.20 per Class A common share.
The price is about 16% higher than the March 4 closing price, Nationwide Mutual says.
Nationwide Mutual and its affiliates now own 66% of the equity and 95% of the voting power of Nationwide Financial, Nationwide Mutual estimates.
The offer "provides the public stockholders of NFS with immediate liquidity and certain value in an uncertain market," Fred Finney, a Nationwide Mutual board member, writes in a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.