of Cadbury with Schweppes in 1969. The firm decided to enter the securities market buying Charlesworth and Co., a stock jobber, in October 1984 and Grieveson Grant, a leading stockbroker, in April 1986. In the 1980s, Kleinwort Benson was a pioneer in privatisation. It managed the reprivatisation of British Aerospace, the first of the British Government's programme of disposals in 1981. It also managed the flotation of Cable & Wireless in the same year. It next advised on the privatisation of Associated British Ports in 1983. It went on to advise the British Government on the sale of 50.2% of British Telecom, the largest ever share issue at the time, in 1984. It assisted with the privatization of Enterprise Oil in the same year. Important private sector transactions at that time included the takeover of Harrods by the Fayed brothers in 1984. The firm also worked on overseas privatisations advising the Italian government on the IPO of Enel in 1993. In the United Kingdom it advised on Carlton Communications' £723 million takeover of Central Television in the same year. Dresdner Kleinwort In 1995, Kleinwort Benson was acquired by Dresdner Bank and, as Dresdner Kleinwort, became its investment banking arm. It added global reach through the acquisition of the US investment bank Wasserstein Perella in 2001 (from Bruce Wasserstein). The Frankfurt branch of the bank was instrumental in initiating trading in emissions credits in 2003. In 2004, the Russian government hired Dresdner Kleinwort to value Yukos's Yuganskneftegaz which was later sold to Russian state oil major Rosneft. In January 2006, the bank became the target of a US$1.4 billion class action suit by six employees alleging bias and systematic discrimination against female workers. In December 2008 Commerzbank, which was in the process of acquiring Dresdner Bank, decided to close Dresdner Kleinwort's Mergers & Acquisitions Unit. Then in March 2009 it became clear that the office in Japan would close. It also became clear that the capital markets and equities units would close and that advisory work would only be undertaken for Commerzbank's German clients. In February 2009 the Commerzbank management announced that no bonuses would be paid across the Commerzbank group including Dresdner Kleinwort. This was clarified to mean that Front Office staff would receive 10% of the bonus promised in December 2008 but support functions would receive their full bonus. This, together with issues regarding severance payments and guaranteed bonus