ROME, July 21 (Reuters) - Electricite de France and Fiat SpA held a first meeting to discuss delaying options that could force the French utility to acquire Italy's Edison , a source close to the talks said on Wednesday.
State-owned EDF holds an 18 percent stake in holding firm Italenergia Bis, which in turn controls Italian utility Edison. The French power company is seeking to postpone a series of put and call options that could leave it with 100 percent of Italenergia from March 2005.
EDF would then be forced by Italian law to launch a costly full takeover bid for Edison, Italy's second-biggest power group which is 62 percent owned by Italenergia. Edison has a market value of about six billion euros.
Fiat, which has 24.6 percent of Italenergia, is believed to be interested in selling all or part of its stake to finance the automaker's turnaround effort.
EDF Chairman Francois Roussely met in Rome on Wednesday with Fiat's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, and its chairman, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.
"Today the real negotiations began," the source said on condition of anonymity. "In September there will be a new meeting with the aim of moving toward a final agreement."
Montezemolo, asked by reporters as he left the meeting about the future of Fiat's stake in the Edison parent, said: "We'll see."
The source said EDF wanted to remain Edison's main shareholder but would like to have a sizable Italian utility also take a stake.
"The only purpose was to make an assessment of the situation," Roussely said after the meeting. "There are no major worries and we're interested in being present in Edison, one of the major actors in the Italian energy sector."
In June, a source close to talks between the Italenergia shareholders told Reuters that a possible solution would see those, like Fiat, who wanted to exercise options to sell, park their stakes with Italenergia's bank shareholders.
EDF's voting rights in Italenergia are limited to two percent by the Italian government in protest against the French giant's expansion in Italy, while keeping its home power market virtually closed to foreign investors.