From aging cheese wheels to a new source of liquidity, without waiting for the product sale. This is the principle behind the first destocking operation carried out in Italy, featuring Brazzale together with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Cherry Bank. The operation, made possible by the recent reform dedicated to SMEs, introduces a new financing model based on the valorization of inventory and intended, according to the promoters, to extend to other production sectors as well.
THE FIRST ITALIAN DESTOCKING
The first Italian warehouse securitization operation is valued at 10 million euros and was structured by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Cherry Bank in favor of Brazzale, the oldest Italian dairy company, founded in 1784.
The financing was granted equally by the two institutions to the special purpose vehicle Magazzino Italia SPV S.r.l., established to purchase fresh and semi-aged products from Brazzale. The company thus obtains immediate liquidity to reinvest in its development programs, while the vehicle will use the proceeds from the subsequent sale of finished products to repay the financing and purchase new batches of goods, thanks to the revolving nature of the operation.
This is the first operation in which the financing parties obtain control of the inventory and not just a guarantee on the goods, overcoming the traditional model long used in the dairy sector, where Parmigiano wheels are stored in Credito Emiliano vaults as collateral to obtain credit.
HOW DESTOCKING WORKS
The mechanism allows transforming the economic value of stocks into a source of financing before the normal production cycle is completed. In the case of productions characterized by long aging periods, such as cheeses, capital remains immobilized for months or years before commercialization.
The special purpose vehicle purchases the goods during the maturation phase, leaving them physically in the company’s warehouses. In this way, the company obtains liquidity without waiting for the final sale, while the financing is progressively renewed through the sale of matured products. According to the operators involved, the model is replicable in all sectors characterized by significant warehouse stocks.
WHAT THE NEW SME LAW PROVIDES
The operation was made possible by the recent SME law (no. 34/2026), which came into force last April 7, expanding the scope of securitizations to unregistered goods, allowing the use of food products, raw materials, and manufactured goods present in company warehouses as the basis of the operation.
The aim of the law is to enable companies to obtain new liquidity by valorizing their stocks, without increasing traditional bank debt and without waiting for the production cycle to conclude. On Bloomberg, Pietro Bellone, partner at the law firm A&O Shearman, explained that the new regulatory framework allows companies to “deconsolidate these assets from their balance sheet and free up liquidity immobilized in stocks.” Meanwhile, Annalisa Dentoni-Litta, partner at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, emphasized that the law expressly recognizes the use of future credits, underlying goods, processed products, and substitute goods as assets eligible for securitization operations.
A REPLICABLE MODEL
For Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the initiative represents one of the tools to support the competitiveness of companies foreseen by the 2025-2027 Strategic Plan and is also part of the agreement signed with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests to facilitate credit access for agri-food companies.
“With the first destocking operation launched in Italy, the securitization instrument is employed in one of the main strategic supply chains of the national economy with the prospect of providing immediate liquidity to companies and valorizing the goods present in the warehouse,” declared CDP Business Director Andrea Nuzzi, who added that the model could also be extended to other sectors characterized by goods whose value increases during processing, such as some commodities, including iron and steel.
Cherry Bank also considers destocking a model destined to spread. “The new destocking is not just a strategy to finance companies by pledging inventory. It is a financial paradigm shift,” stated CEO Giovanni Bossi, who believes its innovative scope “could be comparable to the introduction of factoring for commercial credits that took place in Italy 35 years ago.”
BRAZZALE’S INVESTMENTS
The resources obtained will be used for the construction of a new logistics center, the expansion of the packaging department, the purchase of new machinery for dairy production, and the strengthening of the group’s international presence through new products and increased production capacity.
Roberto Brazzale defined the operation as the practical translation of “a regulatory novelty that remedies an illogical distortion.” According to the company owner, “the financial strength of those who carry out long aging cycles of fine products is not correctly represented when the value of inventory is not considered in the calculation of the net financial position.” He also stated that “a cheese warehouse is worth much more than money because it has always appreciated at a multiple of inflation, and it is even worth more than gold because it generates income.”
BRAZZALE’S HISTORY AND FIGURES
Brazzale is considered the oldest Italian dairy company still in operation. The family’s origins in the milk sector date back to the late eighteenth century, and the company has operated uninterruptedly for at least eight generations. Its history is linked to the Asiago Plateau and the Venetian plain; already in the early twentieth century, the family established the first industrial butter factory in Zanè. In the 1950s, the group was among the pioneers of Grana Padano and among the founding members of the related Consortium, while in the 1960s it built one of Italy’s main dairies in Campodoro. Subsequently, it developed the Alpilatte brand and expanded its activity to cheese packaging and export.
Today the group counts 12 plants across Italy, the Czech Republic, Brazil, and China, employs about 1,200 people, recorded revenues exceeding 340 million euros in 2025, collects over 340 million liters of milk per year, and produces about 40 thousand tons of cheese and butter, exported to more than 70 countries. Among its best-known products, besides Burro delle Alpi, are cheeses such as Asiago and Gran Moravia.
