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Woolworths' acquisition of national book wholesaler Bertram has been given final approval by the UK's competition watchdog.

In a statement today Woolworths said that the Competition Commission (CC) had "unconditionally cleared" its completed acquisition of Bertram in its final report on the tie-up.

The Commission said it had concluded that the merger of Bertram's and Woolworths' book wholesaling interests had not resulted, nor was expected to result, in a "substantial lessening" of competition in the supply of books to retailers, or in the supply of books to libraries.

Today's ruling by the regulator confirms provisional findings published by the CC in July, when competition officials stressed that rival book wholesaler Gardners would continue to keep a check on the market position of the newly merged company.

CC officials also ruled that there was scope for booksellers to divert at least some orders to direct supply from publishers.

In the initial ruling on July 24th, chairman of the CC inquiry into Woolworths' acquisition of Bertram, Diana Guy, said: "Even for independent bookshops who tend to buy more from wholesalers than other types of retailers, we found that the ability of the merged company to exploit its position by lowering the available discounts or degrading their service levels will be limited."

Woolworths announced in January that its wholesale subsidiary had reached an agreement with Bertram shareholders to acquire the book wholesaler and distributor of books to libraries.

At the time Woolworths chief executive Trevor Bish-Jones said the deal would increase the high street retailer's exposure to the growing books market.