Crafty Parmesan producers in Italy have converted their cheese into bonds.
A cooperative near Modena in Italy's northern gastronomic heartland Emilia Romagna has raised €6 million by issuing bonds guaranteed by wheels of its Parmesan cheese.
"We already have some loans but, after a certain point, the banks don't want to give you any more," Andrea Setti of the 4 Madonne Caseificio dell'Emilia cooperative said.
The cooperative has enjoyed a boom in recent years allowing it to increase production to 75,000 wheels a year and turnover rising to €24 million in 2014.
Despite this the banks were unwilling, after three years of recession, to lend further funds to the cooperative’s efforts to increase its presence in the US and to concentrate on longer-aged cheese.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government is encouraging firms to raise money elsewhere and take advantage of a fledgling economic recovery. The government is backing mini-bonds for investors to provide funding for six years in return for a fixed 5% yield.
4 Madonne's chairman said it would use the money raised in the bond issue to improve its facilities and promote its thick-rind cheese.