The Coca-Cola Co and Nestle's announcement on Friday (6 January) that they are to scale back their global joint-venture, Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW), may have come as little surprise to many.

Formed in 2001, the JV has struggled to push sales of its RTD iced tea brand Nestea. According to Beverage Digest, the companies sold around 114m cases of the brand globally in 2001. By 2005, that number had dropped to around 93m cases and by 2010 the companies only managed to move around 78.1m cases.

Rival PepsiCo, however, sold around 247m cases of its Lipton iced tea brand in the US in 2010, the publication noted.

In October last year, reports suggested that BPW was reviewing its India-wide roll-out of Nestea as a result of the business "failing to push the product", prompting speculation that the joint-venture was running out of fuel.

On Friday, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola told just-drinks that BPW's focus will now be solely on Europe and Canada.

"The BPW joint venture delivers greater value to both parent companies in markets throughout Europe and Canada and as such, we will continue to operate under this agreement in those markets," the spokesperson said. "In all other markets, we will have more flexibility to accelerate our investments where we see high-growth opportunities."

The new focus for the partnership may be a sign that Nestle has bolstered the position of Nestea in key markets such as China and US, and is now able to go it alone in those countries. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, will need to renew its focus in those countries.

Over the years, Coca-Cola and Nestle have each started to handle other tea brands besides Nestea in the US. Coca-Cola's products include Gold Peak iced tea and the Honest Tea line. The company is also reportedly looking at launching an RTD tea brand under its Fuze label, Beverage Digest has reported.

This may now be a new focus for Coca-Cola in the US, but the company will need to bear in mind that it will be going head-to-head with the RTD market leader PepsiCo and Nestle's Sweet Leaf Tea Co brands.

Shares in Tingyi Holding Corp rallied in early trading today (7 November) following the firm's announcement of its deal with PepsiCo on Friday.

Tingyi has purchased PepsiCo's entire China bottling operations in exchange for a 9.5% interest in its drinks business. Before the announcement, Tingyi had suspended trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, pending the "price sensitive transaction".

Tingyi's Hong Kong-listed shares opened 8.2% higher at HK$22.50 upon resuming trading today. At 1138 GMT, Tingyi was up 9.4% at HK$22.75, while Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.3%.

While the deal will help PepsiCo expand its market share in China, it could also help Tingyi enlarge its product mix - Tingyi sells only diluted fruit juice products and has little exposure to the pure fruit juice sector.

The tie-up is one of only a few in which a Chinese company has acquired a foreign stake within its own borders and not the other way around.

Tingyi may have its hands full however; in 2010, PepsiCo's bottling operations recorded a combined loss of $175.6m, amid rising labour and raw material costs.

Despite the North American soft drinks market continuing to be a challenging one, neither PepsiCo or The Coca-Cola Co appear willing to surrender just yet.

On the release of PepsiCo's third-quarter results last week, chairman & CEO Indra Nooyi admitted that the company has more work to do in its North America beverages division. Despite a small rise in volumes in the region, Nooyi insisted that the company is "intensely working" at driving growth in the region.

It was Coca-Cola's turn next, with the release of it's third-quarter results yesterday (18 October). Asked whether the company sees growth potential in North America over the next several years, CEO, Muhtar Kent was quick to defend the market.

"If you look at what we have been able to achieve here in the US ... we totally, respectfully, disagree that [no growth] is where our mind is," he said.

"Demographics in North America are in our favour ... we have every reason to believe that, if we can't grow here, it is our fault and we won't accept that."

While North America is unlikely to grow at the same pace as India or China, the region remains a part of the business models of most major soft drinks firms.

Challenges from rising commodity costs have meant both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have had to increase prices in the region. But, while it may appear that beverage firms are treading water in what has become a struggling and rather shaky market, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are clearly reluctant to give up completely on the American dream.

PepsiCo's formation of a 'council' last month has done little to dampen rumours of the company doing what many in the industry have termed 'a Kraft', ie splitting its snacks and beverages divisions.

While analysts have suggested that a split of the business could achieve more value for shareholders, PepsiCo has maintained that it will not do so and, inevitably, this was the line of questioning fired at the company's CFO, Hugh Johnston, on PepsiCo's third-quarter earnings call yesterday.

Understandably, both investors and the media are keen to get to the bottom of PepsiCo's thoughts on whether a split is on the horizon, or indeed, whether management has even met to discuss such a possibility. Given the sluggish North American beverages market and commodity cost increases, there is certainly pressure on the company to return value to shareholders now in any way it can.

Kraft's chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld insisted last month that the split of its North American grocery unit and a global snacks business would allow both to focus on growth in their respective fields.

While this may be true for the US food firm, it does not appear to be so for PepsiCo, as Johnston reiterated to journalists.

The CFO insisted that, while PepsiCo is in the process of "turning over every stone to look for opportunities of unlocking shareholder value", the company will look at a number of combinations, but splitting the business is not one of them.

"We see ourselves aas having highly complimentary businesses and taking it apart I know would be very costly and I really don't see the benefit in doing so," Johnston said. "If we saw something that would unlock significant shareholder value, then we would do it."

While Johnston's affirmations appear to suggest that this option is not on the table for the time being, analysts and investors will still be watching closely to see what material gains the company's new council can achieve.

It thinks it's a wine list but it's not.

An LA restaurant has created a water list that could put any wine menu to shame. Yes that's right, a water list. And if you need any convincing you may want to look at the Wattwiller from France ...

"Its pedigree dates back to Roman times, with the source ultimately controlled by the monks of the Abbey of Murbach in 785 AD," reads the menu description. "With salty aftertaste, this elite water delivers terrific calcium, magnesium, sulphate, and flouride."

At US$11 for a 30cl bottle it would want to.

Although, this isn't the first restaurant to create a water list. No, indeed. Mayfair hotel Claridge's in London created a water menu in 2007, from which patrons could choose from 30 selections of bottled water imported from all over the world.

It appears there are water connoisseurs amongst us. However, I couldn't see Peckham Spring on the list.

A jug of water for Table Two please.

Take a look at this impressive video of Tesco's Homeplus subway shopping scheme in South Korea, which has been making its way around the internet.

The scheme allows customers to shop using QR codes and billboards on a subway platform, as a means of competing with the country's number one retailer, E-Mart, without adding any more stores. 

Our sister site just-food flagged this up first. Click here to see it in action.

It seems that acquisition-busy Asahi Holdings may have a fight on its hands if it wants to secure its latest target, Permanis.

Kuala Lumpur-based CI Holdings confirmed yesterday (7 July) that an offer price made by Asahi Group Holdings for its subsidiary Permanis was too low. The company has not denied the possibility of selling Permanis, but said it is consistently on the lookout for opportunities to further optimise shareholder value.

And why not. Permanis is PepsiCo's bottler in Malaysia. In July last year, PepsiCo extended the rights of Permanis for manufacturing and selling its beverages in Malaysia to ten years until 30 June 2020. In their three years together, the firms have introduced three new PepsiCo brands, namely Tropicana Twister, 7-Up Revive and Mountain Dew, to the Malaysian market, all of which have been received well.

So, there is no reason why CI Holdings would not hold out for a decent price. And it's not like Asahi can't afford it. Despite making two purchases this week, the firm has an overseas M&A warchest valued at US$4.9bn.

But if Asahi is intent on making Permanis its third acquisition in one week, it may need to up its offer. CI Holdings clearly has a figure in mind and does not appear prepared to part with its subsidiary for just any sum.

The Orient Express was this year's chosen venue for the launch of Brown-Forman's Chambord Rendezvous.

A five-course lunch, accompanied by Brown-Forman-owned Chambord and Champagne, and a trip round the beautiful British countryside set the scene for the Rendezvous venue announcement, which this year will take place on 13 September at One Mayfair, London.

Bartenders and chefs from across the UK are encouraged to enter their best creations for the annual drinks industry event, which offers a trip to Paris and the Loire Valley, where Chambord is produced, as the top prize.

The judging panel will comprise of Simon Difford, Andy Pearson, Michael Butt and Alex Turner from the Bacardi Brown-Forman training team.

The competition closes at midnight on 13 August with the website remaining open for guest list registration until 12 September.

The event will no doubt be a chance for Brown-Forman to once more showcase the black raspberry liqueur's revamped bottle design, which the firm says was inspired by market research, predominantly with bartenders in the UK and US.

Earlier this month, in the firm's full-year results, Brown-Forman said it anticipates growth from super-premium and developing brands such as Chambord Vodka. Positive talk from the group about Chambord's prospects may mean that progress is now being made from the company's shaky start to its ownership of the brand.

Here in the UK, Channel Four is to screen a documentary this evening on US bottled water firm Fiji Water.

According to The Telegraph newspaper, the programme, made by the Dispatches documentary team, will question the company's environmental credentials - something the firm has built its success on.

The programme claims that Fiji has not planted all the trees it had promised and that delivering a litre of its bottled water "emits hundreds of times as much greenhouse gas as a litre of tap water", the paper said.

It will be interesting to see exactly what the documentary does claim. It sounds very much like another environmental attack on the bottled water industry.

While, in the last few decades, the bottled water industry has gone from a business prospect that few took seriously to a global industry worth billions of dollars, campaigners have raised concerns about the environmental impact of bottled water. This, coupled with profitability issues, has made it a difficult industry to survive in.

The Dispatches programme will air at 8pm BST.

It was inevitable that The Coca-Cola Co would make its own style statement following the launch of PepsiCo's 'skinny' cans in the US.

PepsiCo's roll-out was made in a bid to connect better with the cola's core female market.

Coca-Cola has returned fired. After teaming up with fashion designer Karl Lagerfield to launch a range of limited edition designs for its Diet Coke bottle in the UK, it has now gone one step further.

The brand has put its name to 'Style it Light', a channel within Yahoo! UK's fashion channel. The site is part of a larger campaign designed to promote Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Light across Northwest Europe and Nordic countries.

The cola wars are back in fashion.