Billionaire Stronachs split their company to end family feud
A family feud that tore apart one of Canada’s richest families has been settled by splitting the company that owns some of America’s most famous racetracks.
Frank Stronach and daughter Belinda Stronach said Thursday they have ended a long and public battle for control of the family business. Belinda will get 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 and wife Elfriede Stronach will take full ownership of a thoroughbred stallion and breeding business, including Stronach Stables, and farming operations in Florida, Kentucky and Ontario.
In October 2018, Frank Stronach sued Belinda and others, including Stronach Group CEO Alon Ossip, for $520 million, claiming mismanagement of the family fortune. The suit accused her of lavish personal spending on the company’s tab.
Belinda Stronach, 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 US$580 million from the family fortune.
Neither Stronach has any current involvement with the operations of Aurora, Ont.-based Magna, Canada’s largest car-parts maker.
“I am pleased that my father will be able to focus on an agricultural business and related projects that are his passion. The settlement will allow The Stronach Group to continue building successful companies with quality jobs that contribute to the community,” Belinda Stronach said in a statement. She will be president and chairman of the Stronach Group, which includes racing and betting brands such as 1/ST, 1/ST Racing and 1/ ST Horse Care.
After working as a machinist in Austria, Frank Stronach arrived in Canada in the early 1950s and built Magna into a company with revenue of US$28.7 billion and net income of US$1.1 billion by 2011, the year he stepped down as chairman.