TORONTO (Dow Jones/AP) —Thomson Corp. has "no fear" of competing financial data service Bloomberg LP or the possibility that it may cut prices to pressure a newly merged Thomson-Reuters Group PLC, Thomson chairman David Thomson said yesterday."They are a wonderful organisation ... but we have no fear at all," Thomson said at a news conference to discuss Thomson Corp.'s $17.7 deal to buy London-based Reuters. It won approval for the deal from Reuters' trustees on Tuesday.

Geoff Beattie, deputy chairman of Thomson said Thomson didn't contact Michael Bloomberg, about the possibility of acquiring the company he founded.

Thomson executives also supported comments from Reuters Tuesday, saying they don't believe the combined company will need to sell assets to gain the approval of antitrust authorities.

"At this particular time, we feel these are complementary assets," said Thomson chief executive Richard Harrington.

In a hint at how Thomson and Reuters may approach antitrust authorities, the executives said that Thomson, Reuters and Bloomberg, while large players, aren't the only players offering financial-services data. David Thomson said that there are probably 20 formidable competitors in the market, "and with technology and the speed at which information is moving in all different quadrants, there's no question that ... we have many, many, many, many really competent individuals on our heels".

The Thomson executives didn't provide many specifics about strategic plans or potential cost savings, offering up more generic statements about how the proposed deal will provide the scale needed to be a leader in the growing financial-data-services market.

"The transaction is one about possibility," David Thomson said, noting that his father, the late Kenneth Thomson, would have been "thrilled" by the prospect of a Thomson-Reuters combination.

Asked about the possibility of job cuts, Harrington said Thomson's practice is to cut jobs initially via attrition and endeavour to retrain individuals whose jobs are affected by cuts. He said Thomson's reputation for cutting the work force drastically is no longer warranted. "I think that's an old, old legend that basically has not existed in recent years," he said.

Beattie noted that Thomson has added jobs in the last 10 years as the company has grown. Given that Thomson considers the proposed merger a growth story, he expects the company to add jobs as it moves into new markets.