We study the complexation of long thin semiflexible polymer chains with an oppositely charged cylinder. Starting from the linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation, we calculate the electrostatic potential and the energy of such a charge distribution. We find that sufficiently flexible chains prefer to wrap around the cylinder in a helical manner, when their charge density is smaller than that of the cylinder. The optimal value of the helical pitch is found by minimization of the sum of electrostatic and bending energies. The dependence of the pitch on the number of chains, their rigidity, and salt concentration in solution is analyzed. We discuss our results in the light of recent experiments on DNA complexation with cylindrical dendronized polymers. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.