Belinda Stronach Regains CEO Job at Horseracing Firm, Cementing Control

(Bloomberg) -- Alon Ossip stepped down as chief executive officer of Stronach Group, making way for Belinda Stronach, seven months after her family agreed to settle a long and public feud.

Ossip “had been on a leave of absence since January 2017, so his formal resignation was the next logical step and came as no surprise,” the company said in a statement Friday. The terms of Ossip’s departure by “mutual agreement” are confidential, the company said.

Belinda Stronach will be CEO, president and chairman of the company, which owns some of the most famous racetracks in the U.S.

In August, Frank Stronach and Belinda, his daughter, announced an end to a yearslong battle for control of the family business. Belinda got control of the Stronach Group’s thoroughbred racing and gaming businesses, which include Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park, plus related real estate.

Frank Stronach, who made his fortune manufacturing auto parts, and his wife, Elfriede Stronach, took full ownership of a thoroughbred stallion and breeding business, including Stronach Stables, and farming operations in Florida, Kentucky and Ontario. They no longer hold an ownership interest in Stronach Group.

The settlement came after Frank sued Belinda and others, including Ossip, for C$520 million ($416 million), claiming mismanagement of the family fortune. The suit alleged accused her of lavish personal spending on the company’s tab.

Belinda, a former politician who briefly ran Magna International Inc., rejected the claims of mismanagement. In court filings, she claimed her father’s “idiosyncratic and often unprofitable projects” had drained hundreds of millions from the family fortune.

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