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Fiat's Agnelli family holding sets new meeting

TURIN, Italy, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The family holding company at the top of Fiat's control chain is due to meet on March 3 to discuss an agreed capital increase that should filter cash to the ailing industrial group, a financial source said on Monday.

Giovanni Agnelli & C. agreed to raise 250 million euros at its last meeting on January 24, held just hours after family and Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli died.

Fiat's board is due to discuss a 2.5 billion-euro capital increase of its own at a meeting on Friday, a source told Reuters last week, and its founding Agnelli family has said it will do its part to keep the company going.

Giovanni Agnelli & C controls Ifi and Ifil , the holding companies that together own about 30 percent of Fiat, which has been dragged deep into loss by slow sales and high cash burn at its 104-year-old carmaking arm.

Fiat Auto alone could be recapitalised by about five billion euros, top bankers have said. Media have speculated that a good chunk of that could be put forward by General Motors Corp. which owns 20 percent of the unit.

In return for about two billion euros of cash, papers say Fiat may scrap or delay a "put" option that allows it to sell its 80 percent stake in Fiat Auto to GM from next year.