Insurance giant Nationwide announced Wednesday it will purchase annuities specialist Jefferson National.

Nationwide, based in Columbus, Ohio, cited Jefferson National’s ability to access registered investment advisors and other fee-based advisors and a desire to expand into the fiduciary market place as reasons for the acquisition.

"Partnering with the Jefferson National team will enable Nationwide to expand our distribution footprint and meet the needs of investors and retirement savers who want to do business in a fee-based advisor environment after implementation of the DOL fiduciary standard," said Nationwide CEO Steve Rasmussen in a released statement. "This will complement our strong brokerage distribution channel and allow customers to do business with us in the manner they prefer.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Nationwide Life Insurance Company will purchase all of the stock of Jefferson National, based in Louisville, Ky., which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nationwide. Currently, both companies are privately held.

Jefferson National currently serves approximately 4,000 RIAs and fee-based advisors with its flat-fee investment-only variable annuity, Monument Advisor, and has a total of $4.7 billion in GAAP assets as of June 30.

The companies expect the deal to close in early 2017 — further details of the transaction were not disclosed.