California toy mogul Isaac Larian said Monday he has given up his effort to buy several hundred Toys R Us stores from the bankrupt retailer after he and the company’s debt holders were unable to reach an agreement.

A group of investors led by Larian, founder and chief executive of MGA Entertainment Inc., had submitted a $675 million bid on April 13 for 274 of the 735 U.S. and Puerto Rican stores the retailer is liquidating.

The bid was rejected by the Wayne, N.J., retailer as inadequate, but Larian said in April he planned to sweeten the bid for the U.S. stores after a separate $215 million offer he made for 82 Canadian Toys R Us stores was topped by a Toronto investment firm.

However, Larian, 64, said that negotiations since then have failed to prove fruitful.

“The so-called advisers and lawyers milked that company to death in a matter of seven months, which is remarkable,” he said. “And the current lenders are just not in touch with reality on valuation.”

Cincinnati, Chicago banks to merge

CHICAGO >> MB Financial Bank has long touted its deep Chicago roots while branding its primarily commercial customer base with the ubiquitous slogan, “MB means business.”

The MB name and local ownership soon may be a thing of the past, after the Chicago-based bank agreed to a $4.7 billion merger with the larger Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp. The deal, announced Monday, also would lead to the closure of dozens of bank branches as the institutions combine operations.

The merger, if approved, would create the fourth-largest Chicago bank in total deposits, with a 6.5 percent market share, and give the combined company 20 percent of the city’s “middle-market” commercial banking relationships. MB branches would take the Fifth Third Bank name.

“With this transaction we’ll be adding significant scale to our operations in an attractive Chicago market and creating a top-tier middle-market lender,” Greg Carmichael, president and CEO of Fifth Third, said Monday during a conference call.

Carmichael also cited substantial cost savings to be realized through the merger, in part by closing up to 50 branches in overlapping areas within about two years.

ON THE MOVE

Strategies 360 Hawaii, a leading public affairs, communications, research and marketing firm, has announced that Donalyn Dela Cruz will be the company’s new vice president of communications as of June 1. She currently serves as director of communications and community affairs for the state Department of Education. Prior to joining HIDOE, she served as deputy communications director for Gov. Neil Abercrombie, press secretary for the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka as well as a broadcast journalist for KHON TV2.

Hawaiian Electric has announced that Kevin Burke has been named to the company’s board of directors. He is the head of marketing, sales and international markets of Square Inc., a financial services and commerce company in San Francisco. Before becoming a part of Square in 2015, Burke held a variety of senior advertising and marketing positions at Visa Inc. for nearly 10 years, including serving as chief marketing officer from 2012 to 2014.