Three property management companies that are affiliated with the family that owns the bankrupt Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant have also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

According to U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Iowa filings, the companies — Nevel Properties Corporation, Amereeka Properties LLC and SFG Corporation — submitted their voluntary petitions for bankruptcy on Monday. Candy Siebert, listed as general manager for the companies, signed the forms, which were prepared and filed by Des Moines attorney firm Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave.

Forms filed with the court indicate that each of the companies have between one and 49 creditors and estimated assets up to $50,000. Nevel has estimated liabilities between $1 million and $10 million, while Amereeka and SFG listed estimated liabilities up to $100,000.

Unsecured creditors listed in the Nevel filing are primarily utility and service companies, and debts owed to them total just over $60,000. The bulk of that figure is owed to Black Hills Energy ($16,463), Alliant Energy ($14,584) and the Postville Water Department ($14,342).

SFG listed only four unsecured creditors, with three of those creditors being owed an unknown amount of money. Only a $1,448 real estate tax bill from the Clayton County Treasurer is listed.

Amereeka’s largest listed unsecured creditor by far is a $32,514 real estate bill to the Allamakee County Treasurer’s Office. The company lists roughly $60,000 in unsecured debts total, ranging from service companies to the Postville Fire Department.

Bankruptcy Judge Paul J. Kilburg has noted the companies have yet to file a list of equity security holders, and he has provided written notice that it is required within 15 days from the original filing date.

Legal representatives of Joseph Sarachek, the current bankruptcy trustee for Agriprocessors, have already indicated their interest in the case with the court. Agriprocessors was the site of a massive immigration raid on May 12, 2008. The plant, which produced kosher beef and poultry, never financially recovered following the raid. Legal representatives of the Postville city government and Citizens State Bank were the only others that noted their interest in the case with the court as of Tuesday morning.

Nevel Properties Corporation was registered with the state in September 1994. Brothers Sholom M. Rubashkin and Tzvi Rubashkin, who were also charged with overseeing day-to-day operations at the Agriprocessors plant, are listed as officers for Nevel. In addition, the state lists the Agriprocessors’ post office box and physical address as the home office of Nevel. Allamakee County public records show Nevel Properties as the deed holder on 85 real estate interests in Postville, and as a contract holder in three others.

Nevel is also listed as the deed holder on two properties in Fayette County, and as the contract holder on 10 properties in Winneshiek County. In Clayton County, Nevel is the deed holder on a single commercial property.

Amereeka, which initially registered with the state on July 18, 2006, also lists the Agriprocessors plant’s physical address as its principal place of business. The company is listed as the contract holder on eight Postville real estate interests and as the deed holder on two others, according to county records. All the properties were purchased from Ro-Ka Acres, Inc., a company founded in 1989 by Postville elementary school guidance counselor Ron Wahls, on July 1, 2006.

SFG Corporation was initially registered in 1990 in Iowa by Charles Kelly, a Postville attorney who serves as a registering agent on many of the Rubashkin family’s corporate interests. Kelly filed numerous reports with the state in which he was listed as the sole officer and director of the company. On the 2002 biennial report, however, Kelly’s name was stricken from the documents and replaced with the names of Sholom and Tzvi Rubashkin. At that same time the principal office was changed to the physical address of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville.

A search of Allamakee County records produced only one real estate interest in which SFG was listed as the deed holder. It appears to be vacant lots within the city of Postville. SFG was also listed as the deed holder of a single real estate interest in Clayton County.

The court has been requested to join all three bankruptcies due to the common ownership of Nevel and SFG, and because Amereeka is “a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nevel.” Court documents indicate that all three companies were managed by Siebert and “operated their respective business under one unified business operation.”

The Des Moines law firm representing the companies, according to documents filed with the court, received a $29,000 retainer on Feb. 27 from Cottonballs, LLC — a limited liability company mentioned in the Agriprocessors Chapter 11 case as being operated by the Rubashkin family. In addition, “fees and costs for pre-petition services were paid by the Pidion Shvuyim Fund, affiliated with a charitable organization called the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, for the benefit of Mr. Sholom Rubashkin.”

Citizens State Bank has filed documents requesting court relief, indicating that Nevel owes just over $300,000 to the bank in unpaid notes, unpaid interest, bank advances and various fees and charges. The bank wishes to continue foreclosure action currently pending in Allamakee County, and to begin similar activity in Clayton County.

The companies have asked the court to allow for use of future rent payments for the purposes of paying creditors, providing utilities, paying taxes and property maintenance. In court documents it is argued that without the court’s permission to use cash collateral in such a way, the property management companies will be forced to close all operations.

Mortgages are held, according to the court petition, by Citizens State, Freedom Bank, Harris Bank, Luana Savings Bank and OMNI National Bank. Majestic Properties LLC of Waukon is also listed as the deed holder for the Winneshiek County properties.

A court hearing has been scheduled for March 13 to determine if the companies will be able to use rent payments as requested while the bankruptcy case continues. Discussion on whether the cases should be heard together by the bankruptcy court will be held on March 25.