SIMAD Holdings Ltd. and 60-plus affiliated debtors put their 29-camp summer-camp enterprise into chapter 11 on June 4, 2026, launching a cross-border restructuring dominated by an Israeli bond default and a fight over cash. The freefall filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey (Trenton) came days after the company missed the first interest payment on its Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) Series A Debentures and as roughly $100 million of short-term merchant cash advances came due, leaving the debtors without liquidity to run the 2026 camp season.
The cases began on contested cash collateral before the court approved two debtor-in-possession credit facilities in late June, and a newly installed chief restructuring officer worked to take bank accounts out of the hands of the controlling shareholders. Camping Management Corporation objected to the initial cash-collateral terms while the Willow Lake Parties and Metropolitan Partners Group Administration reserved their rights, an official committee of unsecured creditors was appointed in July, and the court approved a camp-by-camp stalking-horse sale process that has already produced signed purchase agreements for three camps.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey (Trenton)
Case Number
26-16388
Petition Date
June 4, 2026
Judge
Hon. Christine M. Gravelle
Case Posture
Freefall chapter 11; cash-collateral funded, then DIP-financed; camp-by-camp sale process underway
Claims Agent
Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC
Case Snapshot
Summer Camp Portfolio and Cross-Border Holding Structure
SIMAD Holdings Ltd. is a British Virgin Islands holding company and the ultimate parent of the debtor group, and its controlling shareholders are Michael Shabsels and David Shabsels. Beyond the camp business, certain non-debtor or debtor affiliates own and operate multifamily properties, offices, hotels, and retail space, according to the First Day Declaration of Chief Restructuring Officer Assaf Ravid.
The enterprise operates 29 summer camps, including Pine Forest Camp and Willow Lake Day Camp. Each camp runs independently with its own management, staff, and accounting, funded mainly by registration fees paid by parents with deposits due the year before the camp season, the First Day Declaration states.
The corporate structure is layered: many entities are held 99% by SIMAD and 1% by DAMIS Holdings, while others involve minority partners, and Willow Lake Day Camp is operated through separate entities (WL CampCo and WL LandCo) that are not debtors and are 50% owned by outside parties. Press coverage places the camps in the Catskills and Northeast — including six Maine camps — and ties at least one camp to a roughly $16,750-per-season price point, and the Shabsels' linkage to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange comes through the Series A bond.
Series A Bond Default and Shareholder Cash Transfers
The CRO declaration attributes the filing to a liquidity crisis in which the debtors could not satisfy funded-debt obligations, identifying two proximate triggers. The company defaulted on the first interest payment on the Series A Debentures due May 31, 2026, and the maturity dates on the merchant cash advance (MCA) loans in early June 2026 threatened to trigger remedies cutting off access to cash and accounts receivable. An emergent filing was required, the declaration says, to maintain operations and to let the summer camp season proceed.
Israeli financial reporting places a governance dispute at the center of the default. Roughly $34 million in company cash was transferred to entities controlled by the Shabsels without board approval, triggering the bond default and a TASE trading halt, according to Globes and The Real Deal. Globes reports the Israel Securities Authority is scrutinizing the transfers and that the controlling shareholders missed a deadline to return the funds.
Those dollar figures and the governance allegations come from external reporting, and the First Day Declaration does not state the $34 million transfer as a dollar figure. The declaration describes newly installed CRO Assaf Ravid, engaged June 2, 2026, as working to obtain control over bank accounts and to remove the controlling shareholders' access to them.
Secured Debt Stack and the Series A Debentures
As of the petition date the debtors owed approximately $344 million to secured creditors, plus a separate stack of MCA short-term loans, according to the First Day Declaration. The largest instrument is the Series A Debentures, with a par value of NIS 620,000,000 (approximately $211.6 million) and a 7% coupon, secured by pledged collateral and administered by L Mishmeret Trust Company Ltd. as trustee for the TASE bondholders.
The remaining secured stack runs across regional banks, credit unions, alternative lenders, and government EIDLs, with estimated outstanding balances drawn from the First Day Declaration and the Cash Collateral Motion:
Secured party
Est. amount outstanding
Notes
L Mishmeret Trust Company Ltd. (Series A Debentures)
$214,022,000
NIS 620M par (~$211.6M); 7%; bondholder trustee
Bank of New Hampshire
$29,110,000
Replacement-lien adequate protection in interim order
Wayne Bank
$22,127,000
Senior lender flagged in marshalling dispute
Fidelity Bank
$19,967,000
Visions Credit Union
$17,980,708
Newtek Business Solutions Holdco 6 / NBL SPV II, LLC
$14,975,000
Mizzen Capital, LP
$9,828,000
Subject to "Senior Debt Cap" / subordination dispute
General unsecured claims are estimated at approximately $2.7 million, the First Day Declaration states, while the voluntary petition estimates total liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion against assets of $100 million to $500 million. The 29-camp portfolio backing the bond is narrower than the whole enterprise: one analysis of the Series A collateral pool identifies a specific 16-camp pool rather than the debtor's full set of properties.
Cash Collateral Fight and Creditor Objections
In the case's first days, the debtors did not seek DIP financing and instead asked the court to let them run on cash collateral. Judge Christine M. Gravelle entered an emergency interim order on June 8, 2026 authorizing immediate use of cash and cash collateral to satisfy prepetition gross salaries, payroll taxes, and other emergent expenses through June 15, 2026, under a budget showing total operating disbursements of $7,214,400.
That order granted the "Reserving Lenders" (the bond trustee and bondholders, Bank of New Hampshire, and Metropolitan Partners Group Administration, LLC) adequate protection under sections 361, 363(e), and 507(b), with Bank of New Hampshire receiving replacement liens to the extent of any diminution in value and all parties' validity, priority, and perfection rights reserved. A second interim cash collateral order followed on June 12, 2026.
Two days later the debtors filed a Cash Collateral Motion seeking interim and final orders, proposing an "Adequate Protection Package" of customary superpriority replacement liens, superpriority claims where appropriate, and operation under a detailed cash-collateral budget, and asking the court to modify the automatic stay to effectuate the orders and to schedule a final hearing within roughly 21 days of the petition. A supplemental exhibit to the motion was filed June 16, 2026. The first-day hearing was adjourned and rescheduled that same day.
Three objecting parties shaped those cash-collateral terms. Camping Management Corporation ("CMC") and Mitchell "Mickey" Black filed a limited objection asserting a $3,860,000 subordinated promissory note secured by a mortgage on Pike County, Pennsylvania real property, a security interest in fixtures and chattels, a pledge of 100% of the membership interests in the Pine Forest Debtors, and personal guaranties from Michael and David Shabsels.
CMC contends the motion fails to identify it as a putative secured party or grant it adequate protection, and it argues that Mizzen Capital's claims appear to exceed the "Senior Debt Cap" in the Mizzen Subordination Agreement, which could flip priority in CMC's favor. It invokes the doctrine of marshalling to compel Wayne Bank and Mizzen to satisfy claims first from non-Pine Forest collateral, and it requests adequate protection, preservation of its cap, flip, and marshalling rights, and pre-final-hearing budget disclosure.
The Willow Lake Parties (Steven Weissman, Wendy Saiff, and relatives; Willow Lake Day Camps, Inc.) filed a reservation of rights as 50% owners of the non-debtor WL CampCo and WL LandCo entities, contending that any liens the Shabsels granted against those entities were made without their required consent and are unauthorized or invalid. They reserve rights to challenge lien validity and perfection, to assert that any transfer or pledge of the Shabsels' interests is void or voidable under operating agreements and rights of first refusal, to oppose future DIP or financing touching the Willow Lake entities, and to demand a jury trial and de novo district court review, asking that the final order not determine ownership or validate liens on the Willow Lake interests. Metropolitan Partners Group Administration, LLC — one of the named "Reserving Lenders" — separately filed a reservation of rights preserving its position on cash-collateral use and adequate protection.
DIP Financing, Sale Process, and Committee Appointment
The debtors' funding and case structure changed materially over the following weeks. On June 26, 2026, Judge Gravelle entered an interim order authorizing up to $180 million in postpetition financing from the Series A bondholders, split between a $60 million first-out new-money tranche and a $120 million second-out tranche rolling up existing bond debt, with Mishmeret Trust Company Ltd. as DIP agent and Klirmark Opportunity Fund IV LP among the lenders. Three days later, the court entered a second interim DIP order authorizing up to $30 million in additional postpetition financing from Bank of New Hampshire, split between $10 million of new money and a $20 million roll-up of BNH's prepetition claim.
The same week, Judge Gravelle entered a bidding procedures order on June 26, 2026 approving a camp-by-camp stalking-horse sale process for the debtors' camp assets. That process has since produced signed stalking-horse agreements for at least three camps: Mohawk Day Camp and Mohawk Country Day School to Grandview Ventures Group, LLC for $68 million, Camp Lokanda to 18 Lions LLC for $18,150,000, and Camp Echo, operated by Shab Holdings, LLC, to Ohel Children's Home and Family Services, Inc. for $12,000,000.
Cole Schotz P.C. serves as debtors' proposed counsel through Michael D. Sirota, Warren A. Usatine, and David M. Harris. Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC serves as claims and noticing agent under a final retention order, with a $25,000 retainer and standard hourly rates, and disclosed that a Kroll managing director's son will work as a debtors' employee in summer 2026, according to the motion to retain the claims agent.
Kirkland & Ellis (Joshua A. Sussberg) and Wachtell Lipton (Joshua A. Feltman) entered through local counsel, and Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones (Robert J. Feinstein, Maxim B. Litvak, and Bradford J. Sandler) appeared for a "NewCo"-related party; their specific roles as committee, sponsor, or major creditor are not yet adjudicated. The cash-management record shows bank accounts historically controlled by David and Michael Shabsels, now with Ravid as CRO under the Cash Management Motion, and the debtors also moved for a critical vendor payment program.
Key Timeline
The first two weeks established the case's procedural framework and drew out the cash-collateral disputes, from the joint administration of the 60-plus debtor entities through the adjourned first-day hearing.
Date
Event
May 31, 2026
Default on first interest payment on the Series A Debentures
June 2, 2026
Assaf Ravid engaged as Chief Restructuring Officer
June 4, 2026
chapter 11 petitions filed, Case 26-16388 (D.N.J.)
June 8, 2026
Emergency interim cash collateral and wages order entered
June 11, 2026
Order directing joint administration of the 60+ debtor entities
June 12, 2026
Second interim cash collateral order entered
June 14, 2026
First Day Declaration and full first-day motion package filed
June 15, 2026
List of 20 largest unsecured creditors filed; Metropolitan Partners reservation of rights
June 16, 2026
Willow Lake reservation of rights and CMC limited objection filed; supplemental cash-collateral exhibit; first-day hearing adjourned
Key Timeline
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the claims agent for SIMAD Holdings?
Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC serves as the claims and noticing agent under a final retention order, with a $25,000 retainer and standard hourly rates. The court entered a bar date order on July 16, 2026 setting a General Claims Bar Date of August 14, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET and a Governmental Bar Date of December 2, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Why did SIMAD file for chapter 11?
The CRO declaration attributes the filing to a liquidity crisis driven by the May 31, 2026 default on the first interest payment on the Series A Debentures and the early-June maturities on more than $100 million of merchant cash advances. External reporting also links the default to roughly $34 million in cash transferred to shareholder-controlled entities without board approval.
How is the case funded?
The debtors began the case on contested cash collateral, under emergency interim orders authorizing a roughly $7.2 million operating budget and granting the Reserving Lenders replacement liens and superpriority adequate-protection claims. In late June 2026 the court approved two debtor-in-possession credit facilities: up to $180 million from the Series A bondholders and up to $30 million from Bank of New Hampshire, each split between new-money and roll-up tranches.
What is the role of the Series A Debentures?
The Series A Debentures are the largest instrument in the capital structure, with roughly $214 million outstanding, a NIS 620 million par value, a 7% coupon, and L Mishmeret Trust Company Ltd. acting as trustee for the TASE bondholders. The bond is the source of the case's cross-border posture and the May 31 interest default that preceded the filing.
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Tel Aviv Stock Exchange https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-simad-holdings-files-for-bankruptcy-in-us-1001545138
summer camp season https://finance.yahoo.com/small-business/articles/popular-summer-camp-files-chapter-000718274.html
$34 million https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2026/06/04/camp-blue-star-mohawk-owners-default-on-israeli-bond-deal/
scrutinizing the transfers https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-while-the-watchdogs-slept-simads-owner-took-its-cash-1001544682
Series A collateral pool https://www.deeptase.co.il/en/analysis/3527
This article was researched and written with AI assistance, using court filings, public records, and news sources. AI-generated content can contain errors. Verify all information against primary sources before relying on it. This is not legal or financial advice. See the disclaimer.