July Business Briefs
Macpherson Lists, Hemisphere Goes Private, MSP Goes Public, and MasTec Looks Forward to a Rebound.
High End Housing Pop

Housing prices are rising across the Gables, but nowhere has the jump been higher than at the high-end. The latest incarnation of soaring prices: Supermodel Elle Macpherson has put her Gables Estate home on the market for $29 million. She purchased the 8,314 square foot home on a 1.71-acre lot for $8.1 million in 2018. So, if it sells for the asking price, she pockets $5 million for each year living there. Nice work if you can get it. And if that price seems outlandish, compare it to the sale of another Gables Estate home at 650 Casuarina Concourse. It went for $45 million in May, albeit on 2 acres with 19,042 square feet.
Slight Slip for MasTec, With Rebound Expected

MasTec Inc., one of the largest corporations based in Coral Gables with 350 employees, reported a first quarter loss of $35 million on posted revenue of $1.95 billion. On the positive side, Wall Street analysts had predicted a loss of more than four times that amount. What’s more, for the second quarter ending this month, MasTec predicts a sizable profit, from the first quarter loss of 3 cents per share to earnings of 72 cents per share, with revenues of $2.2 billion expected for quarter two.
Hispanic Media Firm Goes Private
Coral Gables-based Hemisphere Media Group Inc., which targets U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets, has agreed to a private acquisition by a subsidiary of Gato Investments LP, a portfolio investment of New York based Searchlight Capital Partners. The price was not disclosed; Hemisphere lost $13.2 million in Q1, against posted revenues of $48.8 million. The Daily Business Review reports that Hemisphere has also agreed to sell Spanish-steaming platform Pantaya to TelevisaUnivision in exchange for cash and Puerto Rican radio assets. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Banesco Expands Construction Lending

Building costs may be out of control, but that did not stop Coral Gables-based Banesco USA from announcing a construction loan of $22.3 million for a mixed-use development on Miami Beach which includes a luxury hotel, restaurant, and retail (see rendering at top). The hyper-modern designed building at 1685 Washington Avenue is just off of Lincoln Road, the popular shopping, dining, and nightlife destination. Banesco USA, with some $2 billion in assets, is located on Alhambra Circle. The loan is part of a strategy by Mario Oliva, who became CEO and president in 2020, to become more robust in real estate lending.
MSP Recovery Goes Public
Gables-based MSP Recovery, Inc., which specializes in obtaining reimbursements for Medicare, Medicaid, commercial insurance, and other healthcare entities from parties that should have paid in the first place, is now trading on Nasdaq. The company, founded in 2014 by Gables attorney John Ruiz, has an enterprise value of approximately $32.6 billion. The business model is based on MSP collecting 50 percent of recovered payments, using their proprietary data analytics system. Class A Common Stock and Warrants began trading on May 24 under the symbol “MSPR.”