The history of the Mærsk family office: A.P. Moller Holding

The History of the Maersk Family

The name Mærsk Møller has been associated with the Danish shipping and logistics company since Peter Mærsk Møller founded a steamship company in 1886. Brothers and his son later joined the one-ship family business of Anna and Peter Mærsk Møller. Their son A.P. Møller took over the family business and founded A.P. Moller-Maersk in 1904. Since then, the company has been run by several generations of the Maersk family. Today, Robert Maersk Uggla is chairman of the board. From its beginnings as a one-ship company, Maersk has become one of the world’s largest logistics companies. It operates in more than 130 countries and employs more than 100,000 people. Its fleet has grown to 740 ships. The Maersk family’s business success has created a fortune estimated at around $21 billion.

Origins of the Maersk family office AP Moller Holding

A.P. Moller Holding is an investment company and the holding company of the A.P. Moller Group. It was established in 2013 as the investment arm of the A.P. Moller Foundation. To this end, the majority of the shipping company was transferred from the foundation to the holding. From its headquarters in Copenhagen, the family office invests in various companies that aim to have a positive impact on society.

The investment focus of the Danish family office

The Maersk Family Office invests specifically in four different areas: Global Trade, Energy Transition, Circularity, Water & Waste Recovery, and Demographic & Societal Change. Within the different sectors, the Family Office has a diversified portfolio of established companies, growth equity, and scale-up forms. Its most important investment took place in 2015 when A.P. Moller Holding acquired a 15% stake in Danske Bank. In addition to the family business and Danske Bank, the family office has investments in Unilabs, Faerch, KK Wind Solutions, Noble, DOF, and Svitzer.

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