About

Established in 1941, VKR Holding, parent to an international group of companies, specialise in the development, manufacturing and sales of windows, natural ventilation and solar systems. They are located in over 40 countries, employing over 15,000 individuals and it is in this vast organisation that Henrik Rasmussen operates as the general counsel and head of corporate affairs with a 12-strong team compiled of both legal and non-legal members. All legal matters are centralised to their department dealing with a range of legal issues from real estate to crisis management. In his role Rasmussen is responsible for monitoring and managing contracts and legal risk while providing corporate parenting within legal solutions, selecting internal and external lawyers and IP protection for products. Rasmussen and his team take part in the VELUX global facility which is dedicated to managing sales and lease of real estate on behalf of the VKR group. As a global entity with many sister companies, the legal department is entrusted with managing inter-company agreements. Rasmussen and his team are faced with a multi-faceted environment, daily having to overcome a number of diverse issues. This has been possible due to Rasmussen’s initial efforts in transferring the legal department from an isolated holding into an internal “law firm” that is recognised and appreciated by subsidiaries in Denmark and abroad. He introduced and implemented the internal billing procedure which allows the subsidiaries to function in a more structural manner while ensuring the demand for his department’s services remains strong. With more than 25 years with the VK group, Rasmussen has had many moments of achievement. To highlight a few, it would be his great effort in initiating the first Chinese subsidiary at a time when foreign companies were not commonly deployed to set a base in China. Rasmussen should also be credited for his robust approach to anti-trust and competition law compliance program during the aftermath of the EU Commission’s dawn raid. One nominator believes that due to Rasmussen’s extensive knowledge and abundance of experiences he ‘is an important and indispensable sparring partner to the other legal counsel in the VKR Group’.