For a non-empty class of groups C, two subgroups A and B of a group G are said to be C-connected if a, b ∈ C for all a ∈ A and b ∈ B. Given two sets π and ρ of primes, S π S ρ denotes the class of all finite soluble groups that are extensions of a normal π -subgroup by a ρ-group.It is shown that in a finite group G = A B, with A and B soluble subgroups, then A and B are S π S ρ -connected if and only if O ρ (B)
centralizes A O π (G)/O π (G), O ρ (A) centralizes B O π (G)/O π (G)and G ∈ S π ∪ρ . Moreover, if in this situation A and B are in S π S ρ , then G is in S π S ρ . This result is then extended to a large family of saturated formations F , the so-called nilpotent-like Fitting formations of soluble groups, and to finite groups that are products of arbitrarily many pairwise permutable F -connected F -subgroups.