Morgan Stanley has won its first advisory mandate from Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance, to conduct a strategic review of its UK fund manager, Gartmore Investment Management.

Dealogic, the investment banking research provider, said the bank has not advised on any of the insurer's 10 M&A deals it has completed since buying Gartmore from the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2000 for $1.6bn (€1.3bn).