Dec 13 (Reuters) - Britain's competition regulator said

on Friday it was launching a probe into asset management firm

BlackRock's ( BLK ) 2.55 billion pounds ($3.22 billion)

acquisition of UK data firm Preqin.

The Competition and Markets Authority has set Feb. 12 as the

deadline for its Phase 1 decision of the probe into the deal

announced in June.

($1 = 0.7910 pounds)

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by

Mrigank Dhaniwala)