LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Fiat's recovery plan may mean the firm is less likely to exercise quickly a put option to sell its remaining 80 percent stake in Fiat Auto to General Motors , an official at Fitch Ratings said on Thursday.
The credit rating agency has said in previous statements that the put option supports the company's ratings, currently BB+ with a negative outlook.
"It looks like Fiat are trying to restructure the auto division in the medium- to long-term by themselves, which gives a certain perspective on the likelihood about if and when the put option might be executed," Wolfgang Wiehe, an auto analyst at Fitch, told Reuters.
"It is now less likely that they will do it, if they do it, at the beginning of the five-year period running from 2004-2009," he said.
Fiat announced plans on Thursday to slash thousands of jobs and raise 1.8 billion euros in fresh capital.
Fitch downgraded Fiat to BB+, the highest rating in the speculative-grade category on March 4.
The agency said then that "Fitch still believes that the existence of the put option... provides substantial value to the Italian group. Ratings remain backed by the put in the medium to long term, while cooperation with GM creates synergies in the meantime and could result in GM participating to recapitalise Fiat Auto Holding BV."
Earlier on Thursday, Standard & Poor's said it may cut its BB+ long-term rating on Fiat, saying there was an increased chance that the cash-draining Fiat Auto division would remain in the group.
Moody's Investors Service rates Fiat an equivalent Ba1, and said on May 16 it may cut the rating again.