Deutsche Bank granted a loan of 27.5 million euros to an Italian company, against a guarantee in ... cheese.
In detail, this highly unusual guarantee consists of 125,000 wheels of Parmesan and Grana Padano.
The very serious German business newspaper
Handelsblatt
revealed an astonishing story
.
For the first time, on Monday, a German bank granted a loan for ... cheese.
The bank has in fact granted the Italian company Ambrosi a credit of 27.5 million euros, and in return accepted a guarantee of 125,000 wheels of Parmesan and Grana Padano.
It is the Italian subsidiary of the Banking Institute of Frankfurt which took this initiative to support the boss of a large cheese group in the peninsula, Giuseppe Ambrosi.
This loan, writes the newspaper, relayed by
Courrier international
, will allow the company "to build a new fermentation cellar for the production of Parmesan and Grana Padano".
A grindstone is worth between 550 and 740 euros
The
Handelsblatt
calculates that with a grindstone worth between 550 and 740 euros each, the total value of Giuseppe Ambrosi's stock would reach at least 70 million euros.
And according to the daily newspaper, Parmesan is a standardized food, easy to sell, which can be stored for a very long time.
The guarantees are therefore excellent for all parties.