(TOKYO) - Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer said Wednesday he did not expect a probe by EU antitrust regulators to scuttle a takeover of the British news and data provider by Canadian group Thomson Corp.

"We expected it would take us into the first quarter next year" for Thomson to complete the takeover, he told reporters during a visit to Tokyo.

"It looks like it's exactly what is happening. Nothing that has come out from Brussels is particularly surprising.

"We are working with them (EU regulators) to try to give them all the information we can and make them comfortable," he said.

After an initial review of the deal, the European Commission said Monday it was launching an in-depth probe running until the end of February to determine if the planned merger represented a threat to competition in Europe.

Along with privately held US group Bloomberg, Thomson and Reuters currently dominate the market for providing financial data to banks, investment funds and other financial services firms.

Thomson announced plans in May to buy Reuters for 8.7 billion pounds (12.6 billion euros, 17.7 billion dollars), subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

Reuters said at the end of July that its takeover was on course to be completed before the end of 2007.

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