Blended News

Investment firm NexCen Brands Inc. (New York) is said to be looking to acquire the nation’s second- and third-largest high-end ice cream chains, it was reported in this morning’s New York Times.

The purchases of Marble Slab Creamery Inc. (Houston) and MaggieMoo’s International LLC (Columbia, Md.), which are expected to be announced today, would overtake the No. 1 player, Cold Stone Creamery (Scottsdale, Ariz.), in the growing premium ice cream retail market.

The two chains, with more than 520 franchise locations between them and combined sales of about $140 million, are expected to be bought for $37 million in cash and stock. NexCen will purchase MaggieMoo’s for $10.6 million in cash and $5.5 million in NexCen stock. To buy Marble Slab, the company will pay $16 million in cash and $5 million in seller notes, payable in either cash or stock.

NexCen Brands is only six months old, but it has already acquired the footwear chain Athlete’s Foot (Norcross, Ga.) and the designer clothing label Bill Blass Holding Co. (New York).

NexCen says it intends to keep its acquisitions, rather than quickly spin them off, creating a conglomerate whose disparate divisions in food, fashion, furniture and sports build off one another. The idea is for Bill Blass designers to eventually make athletic clothing to be sold at Athlete’s Foot and for MaggieMoo’s to use executives at Athlete’s Foot to pitch franchises to prospective owners in the Middle East.

NexCen ceo Robert D’Loren has called it a “think tank” approach to building brands that cuts across industries. Most of NexCen’s revenue comes from royalties — from franchisees, in the case of Athlete’s Foot, or licensees, in the case of Bill Blass.

D’Loren said he planned to expand the chains on the West Coast and abroad, relying on the franchise network developed by Athlete’s Foot. Owners of an Athlete’s Foot franchise will be offered a chance to open a MaggieMoo’s or a Marble Slab, he said. “Our plan is to take both of these brands and export them around the world.”

MaggieMoo’s opened its first store in 1989 and has more than 150 franchises under development. Marble Slab opened its first store in 1983 and has 157 stores under development.

Cold Stone Creamery, the leader, was founded in 1988 and has 1400 stores worldwide. Same-store sales fell for the first time in 2005, by 6.6 percent, fueling speculation that the market might be reaching a saturation point.