Nationwide Rolls Out Four Broker-Sold Gartmore Funds

Nationwide rolled out four new broker-sold stock funds Monday -- including a tech and a focused-growth fund -- with one of the hottest hands at the helm.

On Monday, Nationwide launched the Gartmore Global Technology & Communications fund, the Gartmore Growth 20 fund, the Gartmore International Growth fund and the Gartmore Emerging Markets fund. Gartmore is the brand-name of Nationwide's fund family.

Aaron Harris, who posted a nearly 500% return last year co-managing the chart-topping (NGTIX)Nicholas-Applegate Global Technology fund, will run the global tech fund and co-manage the Growth 20 fund with Christopher Baggini.

The fund's prospectuses give their managers plenty of wiggle room. In running the tech fund, Harris will be able to buy stocks of technology, telecommunications and/or biotechnology companies. With Growth 20, Harris and Baggini will be able to buy 20 to 30 foreign or domestic stocks of any size.

Harris joined Nationwide affiliate Villanova Capital in April and has run the (NMGAX)Gartmore Millennium Growth fund, formerly the Nationwide Mid-Cap Growth fund, since then. Over the past three months, the fund, with 70% of its assets in tech stocks, has posted a 25.1% return, which tops nearly every other fund.

Both the Emerging Markets fund and the International Growth fund will be run by managers at Gartmore Global Partners. Christopher Palmer and Philip Ehrmann, who joined Gartmore in 1995, co-manage the Emerging Markets fund, while Stephen Watson, who joined the shop in 1993, will skipper the International Growth fund.

The broker-sold funds' Class A shares levy a maximum 5.75% front-end load or sales charge. Class B shares carry a maximum 5% back-end load or sales charge. The fund's Class A share annual expenses are capped to be about in line with their peers', according to Morningstar. Class B share expenses, however, are above-average.

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