Tuffnells owner Connect Group completes disposal of care and education division

Tuffnells owner Connect Group has completed the sale of 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 a deficit of £7.9m relating to the business's pension fun, was announced in February this year.

In April the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into whether the deal would lead to a "substantial lessening of competition" in the sector.

However it received unconditional clearance from the CMA earlier this month.

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.