The room where it happened (well, where it started, anyway), for the Franklin Templeton-Legg Mason merger, was at a restaurant.

Joseph A. Sullivan Legg Mason Global Asset Management Chairman & CEO

"We went to dinner and talked about how we saw the world," Joe Sullivan, chairman and CEO of Legg, tells the Baltimore Business Journal says of meeting up with Greg Johnson chairman and then-CEO of Franklin. "We ended by saying let's reflect on what we talked about and have another conversation."

The local paper talked to Sullivan about the just-announced, $4.5-billion sale of Legg to Franklin. Sullivan offered some insights about the process (how Legg was courted by many possible bidders, for example) and about what's next.

For example, Sullivan says that Trian Fund Management, led by famed activist investor Nelson Peltz supported the deal but didn't drive it. (Trian bought a 4.5 percent Legg stake last year.) 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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