Castiglion del Bosco, 1 million euro from Banca BPM with Brunello as “pledge”

A sort of “wine-financial en primeur”, with the wine remaining in the cellar, in the availability of the producer - who in the meantime can work to place it on the market - and, at the same time, generates immediate liquidity for the company, guaranteed by bank credit, on the basis of a precise estimate of the value of the bottles in the cellar, and not through generic benchmarks of bulk as can be the market values of the chambers of commerce. And, in addition, to protect both the company and the bank, with the certification of the product by a third party control body: in a wine world that is looking for new forms of access to liquidity, not only to cope with the Covid emergency, the novelty, first of its kind, comes from the land of Brunello di Montalcino, and from one of its most celebrated realities, Castiglion del Bosco by Massimo Ferragamo, with the first real application of the instrument of the “pledge” with a PDO product as a guarantee (inspired by the provisions of the DL “Cura Italia”), in this case the most precious wine in Italy (with bulk wine quotations, indicatively, around 900 euros per hectolitre), in an innovative operation involving Banca Popolare di Milano - Banco Bpm, and Pwc and Valoritalia, the most important wine certification body in Italy, led by Giuseppe Liberatore.
Technically, it is called “inventory loan”, and will make available to the Brunello brand 1 million euros, disbursed, as mentioned, by Banco Bpm, the third largest banking group in Italy, using the privilege on the bulk wine warehouse “suitable to become Brunello di Montalcino”. As stated in the Castiglion del Bosco press release, the loan has a duration of 4 years (with 12 months of pre-amortization), fixed rate and repayment of interest and principal on a six-monthly basis. The privilege goes to guarantee the credit, leaving the wine in bulk in the full availability of Castiglion del Bosco. On a periodic basis, PwC and Valoritalia will carry out the physical verification procedures on the warehouse, while the latter will also check the correspondence of the quantities reported in the Sian registers and the inspection, with the taking of samples, in order to verify the requirements of the Regulations. During the duration of the funding, the bulk wine of Castiglion del Bosco placed as a guarantee of the funding may be replaced by subsequent vintages, to allow bottling and aging of the vintages close to being put on the market.
“We are proud to have built this innovative operation - explains Simone Pallesi, sole administrator of Castiglion del Bosco Agricola - which we hope will become an important reference point for our Denomination in a difficult economic phase. The privilege financing enhances the value of the bulk wine and supports the producer in the process of aging the wine in the cellar, creating value for the entire Denomination. We have worked with a group of people who express that extraordinary silent ability to carry out the projects, despite the adversities, driven by a passion for the work and the satisfaction of a goal achieved together”.
Fundamental, as Giuseppe Liberatore, General Manager of Valoritalia, points out, “the contribution of a certification body such as Valoritalia, which has made it possible to develop innovative financial instruments for wine-producing enterprises, providing the necessary technical guarantees which have always been one of the problematic elements for the granting of credit. We are convinced that the collaboration between Banco BPM, Castiglion del Bosco and Valoritalia is a virtuous model destined to spread throughout Italy and bring considerable advantages to the wine sector, even in ordinary periods”.
From the banking point of view, “this operation, carried out thanks to an important bank-business synergy and with the support of qualified partners, represents - adds Adelmo Lelli, Head of the Tyrrhenian Territorial Management of Banco Bpm - on the one hand, a tangible sign of Banco Bpm’s proximity to the excellence of the territory in a complex economic situation, and, on the other, it is confirmation of our attention to the agri-foodstuffs sector through innovative financial instruments and made tailor made suitable to make the most of its most important asset, which is often the warehouse. Last but not least - concludes Lelli - it has a symbolic value for the contribution that this instrument can make, also in the future, to the development of Italian excellence like Brunello”.
A case history, that of Castiglion del Bosco, destined to become an example for many, not only in the territory of Brunello di Montalcino, but for all the great denominations of Tuscany and Italy. “The “privilege” is an excellent financial instrument and a great opportunity for our companies”, Fabrizio Bindocci, president of the Consorzio del Brunello, told WineNews. “In this sense, we are encouraging other credit institutions, starting with Monte dei Paschi, with different forms of credit, but which still guarantee the wine we have in the cellar. For the Brunello di Montalcino territory this is a good sign, it shows that we are working in the right direction, and quickly, to support our entrepreneurs in a moment of objective difficulty”, concludes President Bindocci.