Constantin Baack is joining the Hamburg-based asset and investment manager MPC Capital AG and replacing Ulf Holländer as CEO.
Baack, who is responsible for the Shipping division at MPC and is already CEO of the Oslo-listed shipping company MPC Containerships(MPCC), is to take up the post with effect from the end of the Annual General Meeting on 13 June, MPC announced today.
The 65-year-old Dutchman is leaving the Management Board “on the best of terms” after 24 years on the company’s Management Board, including nine years as CEO. He will move “seamlessly” to the Supervisory Board, where he will replace former Hamburg Süd CEO Ottmar Gast.
Constantin Baack has been with MPC Capital since 2008 and has been a member of the Management Board since 2015, where he is responsible for the Shipping division. Prior to that, he held various management positions at the company in Germany and abroad. This mainly includes the initiation of numerous investment structures and companies – in particular MPC Container Ships – as well as the expansion of the maritime services business. Baack began his professional career at Hamburg Süd before moving to Ernst & Young, where he worked in auditing and transaction consulting.
In addition, the Supervisory Board has appointed Christian Schwenkenbecher (41) to the company’s Executive Board as Chief Client Officer. Schwenkenbecher has been Head of Institutional Sales & Products at MPC Capital since 2022. Prior to this, he spent 10 years in investment banking at Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe, where he was most recently responsible for transaction and sales activities in London.
Axel Schroeder, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of MPC Capital AG, said: “Ulf Holländer has had a decisive influence on our company and, as CEO since 2015, has played a key role in the successful repositioning of the company. It is thanks to his outstanding work that MPC Capital is now a broadly and solidly positioned asset and investment manager. We would like to thank Ulf Holländer most sincerely for this.”
Baack sees MPC on a strong foundation
He is delighted that Baack has been appointed from within his own ranks. In close cooperation with Holländer and CFO Philipp Lauenstein, he has “driven the successful transformation of MPC Capital into a globally active investment and services group” in recent years. Schroeder was convinced that MPC Capital “is in the best hands with him and that a successful transition in the management of the company is guaranteed”. Schwenkenbecher is an ideal addition to the Management Board.
The designated CEO Baack said: “MPC Capital has a strong foundation. We benefit enormously from this, even in the current challenging global market environment, and can, therefore, also make targeted use of opportunities. We see enormous development opportunities arising not least from the accelerated energy transition and the necessary decarbonisation of global trade.” This potential and the resulting opportunities must be exploited.
