SACE and Banca Akros support Italian prosciutto exports

Rome - SACE and Banca Akros have jointly completed an operation to support the international sales of Italian agri-food excellence. The 90-month funding aims to support the production of 400,000 Italian prosciuttos produced by King's and Principe. SACE (from the Gruppo Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) and Banca Akros (Gruppo Banco BPM) are cooperating to promote the international development of Italian products of excellence in the agrifood sector by launching a new 18.6 million operation in favour of Gruppo Kipre, which has been breaking records for over 60 years in the sale of 'prosciutto crudo' and San Daniele DOP, selling them throughout the world bearing the King's and Principe brands.

The Banca Akros's structured funding, compounded with a SACE guarantee, will assure Kipre's supply of raw materials and the development of an inventory of finished products, maintaining the presence of the brand on European and U.S. markets while expanding to new target countries (Canada, Mexico and Russia). The funding is supported by a security package which envisages, among other things, a privilege on more than 400,000 King's and Principe prosciuttos in stock - a collateral which will enable Kipre to carry on with their ordinary production activity and continue marketing products, optimising the customer portfolio.

This operation envisages cooperation with the Prosciutto di San Daniele Consortium, as the certification agent of existing stock and the organisation promoting and protecting the brand and the "Prosciutto San Daniele" Denomination of Protected Origin. Within this funding operation, the collaboration between Banca Akros and SACE continues to provide Mid-Cap firms in the agri-food sector (and other key Made in Italy products) with a package of financial and insurance solutions to valorise stocks and provide 150 million euros of new credit lines to be opened in favour of international development projects. Firms can also access funds through consortia, set up by Banca Akros and guaranteed by SACE, to support investments for international growth and circulating capital requirements.

Firms will also benefit from insurance and financial tools developed by SACE to protect businesses from failure to collect receivables and cover technology risks and stock deterioration. International sales of cured meats have grown since 2015 and rose 5 percent in the first 9 months of 2016, for a total of over 1 billion euros of exported goods, especially to European markets (+6 percent) wih Germany, France, UK and Spain leading the group of European countries, and the U.S. ranking first among non-European markets.
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