MILAN, Jan 31 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. on Friday declined to comment on a report its board could meet as early as this weekend to discuss modifying a deal under which it could be forced to buy more of Fiat's crisis-hit auto unit.
The report in leading Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore cited unnamed sources as saying GM's board could meet on Saturday to mull a draft proposal for Fiat to relinquish or delay its option to sell to GM the 80 percent of Fiat Auto that GM does not already own. The option kicks in next year.
In return, GM would agree to help recapitalise Fiat Auto and probably increase its stake to 40 percent, Il Sole said. Other Italian newspapers have reported GM would pay about one billion euros to be let out of the obligation to buy all of Fiat Auto.
A spokesman for GM Europe in Zurich declined to comment, adding that the carmaker does not comment on either board schedules or reports on Fiat as a matter of practice.
Also on Friday, Italian business daily MF said Fiat Chief Executive Alessandro Barberis could travel to the United States next week to meet GM officials to discuss changing the deal.
A Fiat spokesman declined comment on both reports.
One week after the death of group patriarch Gianni Agnelli at the age of 81, Fiat is grappling with how best to pump new funds into its cash-burning auto unit, believed to have posted a net loss of around 2.0 billion euros in 2002.
The future of the GM deal is also likely to be on the table at a meeting between top managers from Fiat and its creditor banks, a financial source told Reuters on Wednesday.
Following Agnelli's death on January 24, remaining members of the Fiat-founding family pledged to raise 250 million euros for the ailing company by recapitalising their family trust Giovanni Agnelli & C. Sapa.
But that is a small part of the five billion euros that the CEO of Banca Intesa , its largest creditor, said this week would be needed by Fiat Auto if it is spun off from Fiat.
The spinoff plan has gained increasing support in recent weeks as the Agnellis and the banks look for a way to separate the car unit, whose market share and sales have sagged in recent years, from the healthier other parts of the Fiat group.
Those include insurer Toro, truckmaker Iveco and farm equipment maker CNH Global NV .