ROME, April 4 (Reuters) - Italian defence companyFinmeccanica will finalise a multi-billion contractfrom Kuwait for 28 Eurofighter jets on Tuesday, two sourcesclose to the deal told Reuters on Monday.
Kuwait signed a memorandum of understanding in September tobuy the planes, but efforts to close the deal have hit repeatedsnags and a third source urged continued caution.
Finmeccanica declined to comment.
The 20-year contract is expected to be worth between 7billion and 8 billion euros ($8 billion-$9.1 billion), withFinmeccanica's share seen at roughly half of the total.
The rest is in the hands of a group of companies in theEurofighter consortium, including planemaker Airbus andBritain's BAE Systems.
Finmeccanica Chief Executive Officer Mauro Moretti said inMarch that the state-owned conglomerate was in the final stagesof discussion with Kuwait over the deal and hoped "to concludein a short period".
Kuwait's parliament recently approved a law allowing thegovernment to pay an advance of some 150 million dinars ($500million) for the contract.
Delays in the multi-billion-euro contract have put pressureon Finmeccanica shares, but the stock was up 2.45 pct on Mondayamid speculation it was ready to be finalised.
($1 = 0.8788 euros) (Reporting by Antonella Cinelli and Alberto Sisto; writing byGiulia Segreti; editing by Crispian Balmer and David Clarke)