India's Hinduja favourite for KBC unit-paper

BRUSSELS, April 22 (Reuters) - Indian family-owned investment firm Hinduja is a strong favourite to take over KBC's (KBC.BR) private banking arm, put up for sale in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Belgian daily De Standaard says.

Hinduja had been pitted against Italy's Exor (EXOR.MI), controlled by a major shareholder of Fiat (FIA.MI), in the contest to buy the Belgian banking and insurance group's KBL European Bankers, but De Standaard said on Tuesday KBC could sign a deal with Hinduja as early as this week.

"The price is not impressive, but everyone is comfortable that it will be an amount which will allow for the deal to be finalised," the paper cites someone close to the transaction as saying.

KBC was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Antonia van de Velde)