Documentation relating to commodities trader Glencore's $37 billion takeover of miner Xstrata will be sent to shareholders a month later than previously anticipated, the companies said today.

Glencore and Xstrata said they still expected to receive all relevant approvals to enable completion of the merger in the third quarter of 2012 and described discussions with regulatory authorities as constructive.

The delay to the paperwork will give the companies time to hold more extensive talks with European Commission competition regulators prior to an official notification about the proposed $90 billion combination.

That notification, once acknowledged by the commission, will kick off a 25-day period in which the regulator will decide whether to approve the deal or begin an in-depth probe into the plan to create the world's fourth-largest miner.

The companies said in February that the deal would face European Commission antitrust scrutiny, kicking off a global regulatory process that could take months.

The two firms said then that they had agreed to officially notify the commission about the deal.

Glencore and Xstrata said today that documentation relating to the merger is now anticipated to be distributed to each company's shareholders by the end of May 2012 instead of in April as originally announced in February.

The delay will also allow the companies to put out first quarter updates in May. Xstrata is due to