Shareholders of Franklin Resources, Inc. (Franklin Templeton) (BEN) should be happy right about now. This is because, on February 18th, news broke that the firm had struck a deal to acquire rival Legg Mason (LM) in a transaction valuing the latter at about $4.5 billion. While this represents a significant premium over the price at which Legg Mason was trading for immediately prior to the deal’s announcement, the move will help to consolidate the space, diversify Franklin Templeton’s existing business and, management hopes, create material synergies for shareholders