• Reuters, Thursday, July 5, 2007 11:20 AM

As part of its aggressive push into tea-based drinks, Coca-Cola is evaluating whether to make a bid for Snapple, the iced tea division owned by Cadbury Schweppes, says CEO E. Neville Isdell. Coke also recently met with officials from the Coke-Nestle joint venture, Beverage Partners Worldwide, expand its palette of tea-based drinks.

Snapple, which sells flavored teas, lemonades and juice drinks, is one of the world's largest bottled tea brands, ahead of Coke's entire tea portfolio, which includes Nestea, Gold Peak and recently acquired Fuze. Cadbury, the world's largest confectionary firm, is getting ready to separate its drinks arm.

While Coke is building up its value-added tea business, Isdell rejects the notion that the market for carbonated soft drinks, like Coke, is in secular decline. He points to the quick rise in market share that followed the rollout of Coke Zero -- billed as the company's most successful brand launch in 20 years.

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