Axcel appoints Icopal CFO as new managing partner

Schmidt-Jacobsen will assume his role as managing partner from the end of 2015, and will lead Axcel's effort to raise its fifth fund, which was likely delayed as the GP looked for Frigast's successor.

Frigast, 63, will become chairman of Axcel after passing the torch to Schmidt-Jacobsen, and will continue as head of the GP's investment committee. He has committed to remain in an active role at the firm throughout the investment period of its fifth fund.

New managing partner Schmidt-Jacobsen will begin his second stint at Axcel from a seven-year role as CFO of Danish roofing and waterproofing company Icopal.

Between 1999-2005, he was an investment manager at the GP, having joined from Danske Bank's corporate finance team. After leaving the firm, he spent three years at Danish ingredients company Chr. Hansen.

The appointment concludes a long-running and troublesome search for Frigast's replacement, led by headhunting agency Russell Reynolds, which had been ongoing for at least a year.

Axcel had a deal in place with Steffen Kragh, CEO of Scandinavian media group Egmont, at the end of 2014 to take over from Frigast, but Kragh reneged at the last moment. The GP is said to have approached Cinven's Søren Christensen, CVC Capital Partners' Søren Vestergaard, Henrik Kraft at KKR, and Blackstone's Jan Nielsen as well.

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