GM Europe head Carl-Peter Forster and Siegfried Wolf, the chief executive of Magna International Inc. (MGA), both expect the contracts regarding the sale of Adam Opel GmbH to be signed soon, they said Wednesday at a conference in Graz.

The contracts are practically ready to be signed, said Forster, supervisory board chairman at Opel and chief of GM Europe, according to a company spokesman.

There is more than a 50% chance that General Motors Co.'s board will stick to its plan to sell German unit Opel to auto parts maker Magna and its partners, Forster said.

Magna's Wolf is also confident the contracts will be signed shortly, the conference organizer confirmed.

GM will consider the future of Opel and its U.K. sister company Vauxhall at a board meeting Nov. 3.

Company Web site: www.gm.com

-By Nico Schmidt, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29725 500; djnews.frankfurt@dowjones.com