MILAN, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Italy's industrial giant Fiat has an option to buy back a majority stake in customer financing arm Fidis if it is bought by creditor banks, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Friday.
Fiat is selling 51 percent of Fidis as part of a wide-ranging plan to cut debt and four creditor banks have said they will acquire the stake if no other buyers come forward.
ANSA quoted a financial source as saying Fiat had negotiated a call option to buy back the stake within two years but said Fiat would not confirm the story. Fiat has said selling the majority of Fidis would cut its gross debt by about eight billion euros. Fiat has pledged to cut gross debt to 23.6 billion euros by early 2003 from 32.9 billion euros ($32 billion) at the end of June.
General Motors Corp. , which owns 20 percent of Fiat's car unit, had first call on the stake but on Thursday said it was not interested in buying.
In June, Fiat Chairman Paolo Fresco said banking and financial institutions were interested in Fidis but if no other buyers come forward, it will go to Capitalia , Sanpaolo IMI , IntesaBCI , and UniCredito .
Financial sources have said Fiat would raise one billion euros from the Fidis sale.
As it battles to cut debts amid slumping sales, Fiat also sold part of its stake in energy holding Italenergia to creditor banks, agreeing call options to buy the shares back from 2005 if it is in better shape.
Fiat shares closed up 1.2 percent on Friday at 11.71 euros, outperforming European peers, with one Milan-based asset manager putting the rise down to the "Fidis effect."