TORONTO, April 4 (Reuters) - Canada's antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it is reviewing the potential acquisition of Canadian lender Home Capital Group Inc by privately held peer Smith Financial Corp.

"I can confirm that the Competition Bureau is reviewing the potential acquisition of Home Capital Group by Smith Financial Corporation," a spokesperson for the regulator said in an email to Reuters.

The regulator declined to provide further details. Home Capital and Smith Financial were unavailable to immediately provide comment.

Home Capital, rescued by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc five years ago, announced in November it would be taken private by Smith Financial in a C$1.7 billion ($1.27 billion) deal. Canada's housing market was slowing due to a sharp rise in interest rates after exponential price growth during the pandemic.

Smith Financial is controlled by Stephen Smith, the co-founder of Home Capital's larger rival First National Financial Corp and a top shareholder of lender EQB Inc .

Shareholders voted 99.8% in favor of approving the deal at a special meeting on Feb. 8.

If Smith Financial does not close the deal before the May 20 deadline, it has to pay shareholders an extra 25 Canadian cents per share for every three months of delay. (Reporting by Divya Rajagopal and Maiya Keidan in Toronto; Writing by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Denny Thomas, Franklin Paul and Richard Chang)