MILAN, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The chairman of Fiat said on Monday that the Italian automaker would seek "compensation" from General Motors Corp. if the U.S. company did not accept Fiat's option to force GM to buy its auto unit.
"If they (GM) are determined not to accept the put, we need to work out if we can find some form of practical compensation," Umberto Agnelli told reporters on the sidelines of a European Union meeting on education.
Agnelli spoke a day after Fiat and GM agreed to delay the effective date for the "put" option by a year until January 2005. The car companies said that in the meantime they would try to settle a wrangle over whether the put was still valid after Fiat recapitalised Fiat Auto and sold its customer credit arm.