Ueberroth Says He’ll Spend More Time Tending to Own Businesses

In stepping down as a co-chairman of Rebuild L.A., Peter V. Ueberroth said Friday that he will devote more attention to his business activities, which range from banking to growing oats in northern Idaho.

Ueberroth, who will retain a seat on the RLA board of directors, was vague about his business plans.

Although RLA has occupied most of his time for the last year, Ueberroth has managed to remain active in the business world. Last month, Ueberroth was an investor involved in the purchase of 49-branch Caliber Bank in Arizona from Bank of America.

The former baseball commissioner and chief organizer of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles is a partner in the Contrarian Group, a Newport Beach-based investment and management firm. The company, which focuses on turning around troubled businesses, has investments in Hawaiian Airlines and formerly managed the U.S. operations for German sporting goods maker Adidas.

Joel K. Rubenstein, a Contrarian Group partner who is also involved in RLA, said the firm expects no major changes as a result of Ueberroth’s decision to spend more time on business matters.

Ueberroth has chosen Contrarian Group partners to assist him in his public endeavors. Contrarian partner Richard D.C. Whilden was also project director for the Council on California Competitiveness, which was headed by Ueberroth.

“We have been focusing a vast majority of attention on Rebuild L.A.,” Rubenstein said about the Contrarian Group.

In the past, Ueberroth led an investment group that tried to buy now-defunct Eastern Airlines. In his mid-20s, Ueberroth founded a Los Angeles-based travel agency--then-called Ask Mr. Foster--that became the nation’s second largest. He sold the agency in 1980.