FRANKFURT - General Motors' board of directors will discuss on Friday the sale of its European business Opel, for which both Magna and RHJ are in the hunt, several sources close to the deal told Reuters.

"We are on the home stretch," one of the sources said on Wednesday, adding the GM board aimed to recommend one of the suitors at the meeting.

Trustees who oversee a majority stake in Opel -- which was ringfenced and propped up with German state aid in May to avoid being swept into GM's brief bankruptcy -- have to approve any decision.

GM declined to comment.