Christina Jennings has grabbed the rudder at Shaftesbury Films as sole chairman and CEO after she and former partner Jonathan Barker on Monday said they have ended a battle for control of the Toronto prodco that tipped into the courts.

Bringing 12 years of joint leadership of Shaftesbury to a close, Jennings and Barker said in a statement they are to part ways, with Barker, who was president and co-CEO of Shaftesbury, leaving the company.

Barker and Imax cofounder Robert Kerr are to assume full control of SK Films, Shaftesbury’s large-format film division.

That departure follows Barker’s launching last year of an Ontario court action in which he alleged Jennings had overlooked his interests as a major shareholder in the company.

Jennings, who founded Shaftesbury Films in 1987, shared responsibility with Barker for the company’s diversification from feature films into TV production. Jennings was selected as Playback‘s Person of the Year for 2007.

Growth at Shaftesbury culminated recently with the prodco selling the Canadian drama The Listener to NBC during the just-concluded Hollywood writers strike.

The battle between the Shaftesbury principals also came as the company looks to ramp up its film and TV slate, holding talks with a number of foreign financial investors.

Shaftesbury is expected to shoot film and TV projects with budgets totaling $81.5 million in 2008, up from a $57-million production slate in ’07.

Neither Barker nor Jennings could be reached for comment at press time.