verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message coordinates 51 30 41 n 0 5 0 w 51.51139 n 0.08333 w 51.51139 ; 0.08333 kleinwort benson type subsidiary industry financial services headquarters london united kingdom products financial services for high net worth individuals and corporate clients owner soci t g n rale website www.kleinwortbenson.com kleinwort benson is a leading private bank that offers a wide range of financial services to private and corporate clients from offices throughout the united kingdom and channel islands . the bank has its headquarters on st george street in mayfair in london s west end and has offices in jersey guernsey the isle of man and south africa . contents 1 history 2 today 3 privatisations flotations and other major deals 4 references history edit the earliest known kleinwort to go into banking was 24 year old hinrich kleinwort who in 1786 set up a partnership with otto mueller in holstein to finance trade with england . in the very same year robert benson joined with william rathbone iv of the existing house of william rathbone & co. to form rathbone & benson a liverpool business trading mainly with america . over the course of the 19th century the benson family grew its wealth through railway finance in britain europe and america . the kleinworts established a successful trading business in cuba profiting from the expansion of the h. upmann and sons cigar business . kleinworts also helped finance franco s coup d etat in spain by approving a credit of 800 000 pounds at 4 % interest on 15 septiembre 1937 . a month later kleinworts agreed another loan of 1 500 000 pounds sterling at 3 % . the kleinworts and the bensons merged their firms in 1961 to form kleinwort benson . kleinwort benson then became one of the first merchant banks to establish itself in the channel islands having set up offices in jersey in 1962 and guernsey in 1963 . over the course of the 1960s the city saw a huge increase in the volume of mergers and acquisitions and by the end of the decade kleinwort benson was participating in some of the biggest deals on the london market . in the 1980s kleinwort benson was a pioneer in privatisation . it was the lead adviser on the flotation of british telecom which at the time was the largest public offering ever seen . kleinwort benson subsequently acted in the privatisation offerings of enterprise oil associated british ports british gas and the electricity supply industry in england and wales . in the 1990s and 2000s kleinwort benson s expertise was in demand around the world . it advised on privatisations in more than 50 countries and acted as bookrunner and global coordinator for some of the largest and most complex global equity offerings and privatisations throughout europe . the bank acted as global manager and adviser to the italian government on the ipo of enel and advised france telecom on their ipo of pages jaunes . in 1995 kleinwort benson was acquired by dresdner bank and dresdner kleinwort became the investment banking arm of dresdner bank . dresdner became part of commerzbank in 2009 . takeover in october 2009 commerzbank unloaded the unwanted kleinwort benson and rhj international became the new owners . in june 2016 soci t g n rale acquired kleinwort benson . today edit today kleinwort benson focuses on private banking providing a comprehensive range of services to private clients business owners and entrepreneurs managing liquid and illiquid assets including a provision of corporate advice and private office capabilities . privatisations flotations and other major deals edit 1981 managed the reprivatisation of british aerospace the first of the british government s programme of disposals 1981 managed the flotation of cable & wireless 1984 advised the british government on the sale of 50.2 % of british telecom the largest ever share issue at the time 1984 advised on harrods takeover by the fayed brothers 1993 advised on carlton communications 723 million takeover of central television in november 2011 saffron tax announced the acquisition of the private client tax compliance business from kleinwort benson . in december 2012 london based independent advice firm sk financial bought about 1 000 clients from kleinwort benson after purchasing a book of clients that the it felt it could no longer support profitably after the implementation of the retail distribution review . 1 2 references edit kleinwort benson transfers client book to london advisory firm . financial news . retrieved 10 july 2014 . ifa buys book of 1 000 kleinwort clients in rdr clear out . ft advisor . retrieved 11 july 2014 . wake jehanne 1997 . kleinwort benson the history of two families in banking . oxford university press . isbn 0 19 828299 0 . wake jehanne 2000 . beyond the banking hall a history of the kleinwort family . sutton publishing . oclc 52713165 . v t e commercial and retail banks in the united kingdom banking in the united kingdom barclays barclays bank barclays wealth cybg clydesdale bank yorkshire bank hsbc holdings first direct hsbc bank hsbc private bank m & s bank lloyds banking group1 bank of scotland bank of wales birmingham midshires halifax lloyds bank royal bank of scotland group2 adam and company child & co. coutts & co. drummonds bank natwest royal bank of scotland ulster bank santander group cahoot cater allen santander uk wholly state owned national savings and investments post office money uk financial investments uk asset resolution bradford & bingley3 nram3 other airdrie savings bank al rayan bank aldermore allied irish bank gb first trust bank arbuthnot latham & co secure trust bank bank and clients bank of ireland butterfield bank cambridge & counties bank c. hoare & co close brothers group the co operative bank smile danske bank duncan lawrie handelsbanken harrods bank icici bank uk julian hodge bank kingdom bank kleinwort benson metro bank monzo onesavings bank raphaels bank reliance bank n m rothschild & sons sainsbury s bank sg hambros shawbrook bank standard chartered tesco bank triodos bank tsb unity trust bank virgin money big four banks are underlined and private banks are shown in italics 1 10 % owned by ukfi 2 73 % owned by ukfi 3 mortgage assets only retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kleinwort benson & oldid 740684850 categories economy of the city of londoninvestment banksprivate bankshidden categories articles needing additional references from july 2014all articles needing additional referencescoordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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