Mærsk McKinney Møller, 98-year-old patriarch of the world’s largest container-shipping company, A.P. Møller Mærsk (APM), and Denmark’s richest man, passed away peacefully during the night at the Rigshospital.

His daughter, Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, issued a statement to the Copenhagen stock exchange, early Monday: “On behalf of the whole family I wish to express our deepest sorrow at the loss of our father, grandfather and great grandfather. My sisters and I have lost a father who never failed, neither his family nor his business.” The company's shares rose over 6 percent as investors reacted to the news, which analysts predicted could lead to a stock split or demergers

Mr McKinney Møller took over the tight-knit family-run company in 1965 after the death of his father, Arnold Peter Møller. Before stepping down as CEO in 2003 he managed to turn the two small shipping lines that his father and grandfather had created into a global group of companies with 108,000 workers in 130 countries, encompassing shipping, oil exploration, supermarkets, shipyards, container terminal operations, and banking, with annual sales of $60bn, almost 20 per cent of Denmark’s GDP.

Known as a ‘shy businessman’, his personal fortune was estimated at DKK 8.3 bn ($1.45bn) in 2010, while the Mærsk family controls assets worth an estimated DKK125bn ($22bn).

Well-known for philanthropy he funded the prestigious DKK2.5 bn ($438 million) opera house, which has become a landmark in Copenhagen harbour, and a garden close to Amalienborg Palace. Mr McKinney Møller was last seen in public at the company’s AGM last Thursday, when he chatted freely to shareholders but looked extremely frail.

Berlingske political analyst Thomas Larsen, co-author of a 2008 biography on the shipping magnate, characterised him today as ‘the most respected and admired businessman and leader in Denmark’ and one of the few Danes, apart from royalty, still addressed in the formal De, as opposed to the common du, form.

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller is succeeded by three daughters. His wife, Mrs Emma Mc-Kinney Møller, passed away in 2005.

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