The current boom in the primary market in Tel Aviv has mainly brought construction companies to the stock exchange, but not just them. A new addition to the exchange is Simad Holdings of the US, which raised NIS 610 million in a secured bond offering. Simad’s activity is an unusual one in the local capital market landscape, namely summer camps.
The company, controlled by brothers Michael and David Shabsels, runs summer camps for children and youths in the US, mainly from Jewish families. The company currently operates thirty camps, mostly in four states: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maine, and chiefly in the summer (June-August). The camps take place on land owned by subsidiaries of the company.
The offering by Simad, which is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, was led by InFin Capital, headed by Yehonatan Cohen. Of the proceeds of the offering, $50 million will be used to buy assets from the controlling shareholders, and a similar amount for early repayment of loans for which the controlling shareholders provided personal guarantees. Thirteen of the camps that the company will buy from its owners will be mortgaged to the bondholders. The remainder of the offering proceeds will be used to expand the company’s business through the purchase of income-producing properties.
In advance of the offering, Simad received a Baa1 rating from Midroog, while the bond that it issued was rated A3. It will bear unlinked annual interest of 7%. The company says that several Israeli provident funds and financial institutions participated in the offering.
Midroog states that the summer camps sector in the US enjoys stable demand from relatively wealthy sections of the US population, but has to cope with high operating costs, and is characterized by moderate growth. “The demand trend for the camps’ services is expected to remain stable at least in the medium term, although over time there is some vulnerability to a threat from alternatives or a change in consumer preferences,” Midroog writes, adding, “The sector is characterized by high barriers to entry” arising from the large investment needed and local regulatory and planning requirements.
A glance at Simad’s results indicates that the company enjoys stable revenue and profits. In 2024, it had revenue of $159.3 million, 2% more than in 2023, and posted a net profit of $8 million, 10% less than in 2023.
Behind the revenue are the spicy prices charged to the parents of participants in the camps. The average cost per participant in one of the company’s summer camps is $8,000-10,000, depending on the type of camp and its length. For some camps, the cost to participants can be as high as $16,000.
Besides the participation fees, Simad derives revenue from meals services, transport, special enrichment activities, and additional payments for tours, automatic vending machines at the camps, and souvenirs. The company also rents out some of its sites during the rest of the year for private events.
Real estate dominates the bond market
Simad’s offering comes during a revival of the primary market. So far this year 24 new companies have raised debt on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, of which 20 belong to the real estate sector, and the flow of offerings is mounting.
This comes against a background of high interest rates and a desire on the part of companies to diversify their sources of finance beyond the banks and non-bank credit companies that often require collateral and personal guarantees from the controlling shareholders of borrower companies. Several more companies are due to join this wave by the end of the year. Just last week, another four real estate companies filed prospectuses for raising debt.
There has also been a rise in the past two years in debt offerings in Tel Aviv by foreign companies (mainly from the US) incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. According to figures from Midroog, such companies have raised some NIS 9 billion on the local capital market so far this year, similar to the amount for last year. The new wave of these companies comes after a period in which they shunned Tel Aviv because of a dearth of demand on the part of local investors after the collapse of British Virgin Island-registered companies such as All Year, Starwood, and Brookland.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 3, 2025.
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