Tuffnells owner Connect Group has been given the green light by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to sell its care and education division to education resource provider RM.

Connect’s sale of the division to RM for £64.4m, including £56.5m cash and deficit of £7.9m, was announced in February this year. In April the CMA launched an investigation into whether the deal would lead to a "substantial lessening of competition" in the sector.

The unconditional clearance of the deal means the sale will complete “on or around” 30 June, the company announced this week.

Connect Group’s care and education division supplies around 30,000 customers with consumable products including stationery, arts and craft and cleaning products.

Its decision to sell the division was part of the group’s wider strategy to reduce its borrowings and grow its news and media division, Smiths News, and its parcels operation, Tufnells, which was bought by Connect Group in 2014.

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