Renowned Danish banking and shipping director Poul Johan Svanholm has died at the age of 88.
The businessman counted legendary AP Moller-Maersk patriarch Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller as a personal friend and was a board member of the Danish shipowner between 1978 and 2010.
Towards the end of this period, he was deputy chairman.
Svanholm was also chairman of Danish lender Danske Bank between 1983 and 2003.
He was also well known in Denmark as a former CEO of drinks giant Carlsberg.
His death on 17 November has only now been notified to newspapers by his family.
They said he had suffered "several years of impaired health". A funeral has taken place.
Danish media reported that Svanholm attracted many nicknames during a long working life, including King Carlsberg and "Mr Moller's confidant".
From the law to lager
The executive began his career as a lawyer in 1958, following in his father's footsteps, before becoming right-hand man to Carlsberg boss AW Nielsen five years later.
He later oversaw the lager group's expansion into international markets.
Svanholm was also active in politics, serving as a Conservative member of Odense City Council from 1966 to 1971. He became deputy mayor from 1967.
He was awarded the Grand Cross by the Danish Order of Dannebro in 1997.
His accompanying coat of arms in Frederiksborg Castle Church contains the Latin motto "Nihil sine labore", or "Nothing without work".
Svanholm, born in 1933 in Aalborg, was married to art historian Lise Svanholm, who is 89.
Banking controversy
In 1996, Danske Bank attracted controversy after it was revealed the lender granted unlimited liability guarantees for eight vessels owned by Maersk.
The deal was signed in 1989 and was said to have brought to light the often incestuous nature of big business in Denmark.
Svanholm, then the chairman of Danske Bank, was involved in the evaluation of the case, TradeWinds reported, despite the fact that he was also on the board of the listed Maersk group company Svendborg.
Maersk's chief executive at the time, Jess Soderberg, was on the Danske Bank board, and Maersk was listed as owning at least 8% of the lender's stock.
The bank later said it would evaluate new regulations prohibiting board members from participating in cases dealing with companies in which they were otherwise involved.
