MILAN: Italy's Fiat Industrial has asked banks to sound out investors' appetite for a possible fixed-rate bond in a road show starting on Tuesday.

A statement from the company confirmed the news provided earlier by lead managers. One lead manager said the bond would be medium-term and of benchmark size.

Fiat Industrial has to refinance a bridge loan worth 2.2 billion euros ($3.0 billion).

The banks involved are Barclays, Banca IMI , BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Citi , Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale and UniCredit, Fiat said.

Last week, Standard & Poor's rated Fiat Industrial a 'BB+' with a negative outlook, affirming the stance it had on the company before it demerged from Fiat early in 2011.

The road show starts in Paris on Tuesday, then will be held in London on Wednesday and in Frankfurt on Thursday, lead managers said.

At 1450 GMT, Fiat Industrial shares were up 1.65 percent at 10.14 euros. The STOXX Europe industrial goods index was up 1.86 percent.