Marathon man takes deal in stride

Dealmaker Martin Franklin picked an odd place to hammer out his latest acquisition: between Mile 11 and Mile 15 while running a marathon in Miami on Monday.

And, oh yeah, it was his seventh marathon in seven days on seven continents, including the one at left where he crossed the finish line in Antarctica last Tuesday.

Franklin, an accomplished runner who has bought and sold a wide range of companies, including Burger King and Jarden, was checking in with The Post on Tuesday after he finished the World Marathon Challenge.

Besides Antarctica, the mega-event takes runners on 26.2-mile races in South Africa, Australia, Dubai, Portugal, Colombia and Miami.

Franklin, 52, was checking in 24 hours after completing the last race.

“The conference call was set up while I was traveling, so I agreed to join as others could not make it,” Franklin said.

“I got my phone from an aid station [around Mile 11] at the turning point, and they looped me in when they were ready,” he said, declining to provide details on the merger itself.

The people on the other end of the deal were aware he was speaking while running a marathon, and the conference call ended around Mile 15.

“They laughed and probably thought I was a little crazy. It’s an efficient use of time,” said Franklin, who paid $44,000 for the privilege of putting his body through the torturous event.

“When you’re in pain as I was, [working while run- ning] actually helps,” he noted. “As you get animated, the adrenaline kicks in and pace picks up.”

“[But] I learned the body is not designed to run 183.4 miles in a week,” Franklin said, adding he doesn’t plan a WMC repeat. “Marathon[ing] is a game of patience and perseverance, much like business.”

In 2000, Franklin took a shareholder activist position in Alltrista Corp., a maker of canning jars, and within a year, he became its chief executive. He sold off a slumping division and then transformed the business into a consumer-goods conglomerate.

Alltrista was renamed Jarden, and Franklin brought Bicycle playing cards, Bionaire, Coleman, Crock-Pot, First Alert, Jostens, Mr. Coffee and Rawlings to the conglomerate.

Franklin sold it to Newell Rubbermaid in April 2016 for $15 billion.

The dealmaker, who runs Mariposa Capital, is currently chairman of Platform Specialty Products, a pesticides maker.