Nestlé Waters H.Q. is the
bottled water
Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., Water well, well water, distilled water, Reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis water, mineral water, or Spring (hydrology), spring water) packaged in Plastic bottle, plastic or Glass bottle, glass water bott ...
division of
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...
. Founded in 1992, it is responsible for the production and distribution of bottled water worldwide under various brands such as
Acqua Panna,
San Pellegrino,
Perrier
Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of bottled water marketed as coming from its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard '' département''. Perrier was part of the Perrier Vittel Group SA, which became Nestlé Waters France after the acqu ...
,
Vittel
Vittel (; archaic ) is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
Mineral water is bottled and sold here by Nestlé Waters France, under the '' Vittel'' brand. A series of negotiations involving Nestlé, local agr ...
, Al Manhal and Buxton.
History
In 1843, Henri Nestlé established his first lemonade and water bottling factory. In 1866, the Nestlé Group was founded.
In 1969: Nestlé acquired a 30% stake in the France-based Société Générale des Eaux Minérales de Vittel.
1974: Acquisition of the German Blaue Quellen group.
1987: Nestlé S.A. takes a majority stake in Vittel and joins with Arrowhead.
1992: Acquisition of the Source Perrier S.A. Source Perrier SA Group. Nestlé becomes the leading player on the world bottled water market, under the name of Nestlé
Sources International (NSI)
1996: NSI changes its name to accelerate its international development and becomes: Perrier Vittel S.A.
1998: Take-over of Italy's leading bottled water producer, Sanpellegrino S.p.A. and launch of Nestlé Pure Life, the first multi-site bottled water under the Nestlé
Brand
2000: Simultaneous launch of Nestlé Aquarel, pan-European, multi-site spring water on six markets.
2001: Acquisition by Perrier Vittel of Al Manhal, the leading bottled water company in Saudi Arabia which becomes the leading bottled water player in the Middle
East region.
2002: Perrier Vittel becomes Nestlé Waters CEO Leader
2003: Nestlé Waters acquires the Powwow Group
2005: Nestlé Waters further develops its business on the African continent via the launch of Nestlé Pure Life in Nigeria and the creation of a partnership in
Algeria
2006: Nestlé Waters acquires the majority shares in Erikli and becomes the Turkish market leader.
2007: Nestlé Waters acquires Sources Minérales Henniez S.A. and becomes the Swiss leader in the bottled water market. Joint venture agreements signed in Mexico and Chile.
2008: Nestlé Pure Life, has become in just a decade the world's leading bottled water brand, with 5 billion liters sold worldwide.
2009: Nestlé Waters strengthens its presence in two key emerging countries: in Brazil by acquiring Àguas de Santa Barbara in the São Paulo region; and in China by acquiring Dashan Drinks, the leading bottled water player in
Yunnan Province
Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
In 2009, a U.S. report entitled "Tour D'Horizon with Nestle: Forget the Global Financial Crisis, the World Is Running out of Fresh Water" involved the departments of agriculture, commerce, energy and environment science and technology as a result of Nestle executives from Switzerland advising of their research. One of the main aspects asserts that a high meat-based diet uses water inefficiently, particularly for an increasing global population. Livestock feed on crops that require high amounts of water such corn and soy. High demand for water overall has already created a drain on underground aquifers and other natural fresh water sources worldwide. Nestle estimates that: “There is not nearly enough fresh water available to provide this standard to a global population expected to exceed 9 billion by mid-century.” The report points out the need to attend to where water is being flowed and asks for greater efficiency in its global delivery.
Also in that same year of 2009, on April 23, during a Nestle Waters shareholders' meeting at the headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut, a protest group arrived with the campaign of "Think Outside the Bottle" (from
Corporate Accountability International
Corporate Accountability (formerly INFACT, Corporate Accountability International) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1977. Their campaign headquarters are in Boston, Massachusetts, and they have offices in Oakland, California; Seattle, Washi ...
, along with representatives from both Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and Protecting Our Water and Wildlife Resources), claiming Nestle Waters, for the sake of increasing profits, overrode local rights to "community water resources" despite protective opposition. The campaign director Deborah Lapidus said, "These water grabs are having long-lasting impacts on ecosystems and water supplies long held in the public trust." she said. One of the specific cases the organization protested against was regarding when Nestle bypassed a 2006
Shapleigh, Maine
Shapleigh, pronounced "SHAP-lee", is a town in York County, Maine, United States which was incorporated as the state's 43rd town in 1785. The population was 2,921 at the 2020 census. Shapleigh is divided into the villages of North Shapleigh, ...
, ordinance that aimed to maintain local control over water resources by accessing the law through the state level. Nestle officials responded by giving a progress report on their intentions for transparency with labeling their water sources and locations.
2012: Nestlé Waters establish a distribution agreement with
Ambev in Brasil
2013: Official opening of the new factory in Buxton (United Kingdom), new factory in Pocheon Edong (South Korea) with
Pulmuone Waters, acquisition of the Mineral water spring
Vale do Sol in Brasil.
2020: Nestlé Waters announced the planned sale of its Canadian water bottling division to
Ice River Springs; the latter was expected to take over the
Nestlé Pure Life brand and the ReadyRefresh delivery service. The deal required regulatory approval which was not achieved in a timely manner; consequently, Nestle cancelled the deal in early September.
2021: Nestlé announced on 16 February that it had agreed to sell its water brands to One Rock Capital Partners and Metropoulos & Co. The sale, expected to conclude in spring, would include the spring water and mountain brands in Canada and the US, the purified water brand and the delivery service. The plan did not include the Perrier, S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna brands. In early April 2021, the sale was concluded,
with its US operations now operating under the aegis of the private equity-owned firm,
BlueTriton Brands
BlueTriton Brands, Inc. is an American Drink, beverage company based in Stamford, Connecticut. A former subsidiary of Nestlé, it was known between 2002 and 2021 as Nestlé Waters North America, Inc. and operated as the North American business un ...
.
2024: Nestlé is subject to an investigation of treating/purification of its mineral waters by French prosecutors. French law (based on a
European Union directive
A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve particular goals without dictating how the member states achieve those goals. A directive's goals have to be made the goals of one or more new or changed n ...
) prohibits disinfection of mineral wate
See also
*
BlueTriton Brands
BlueTriton Brands, Inc. is an American Drink, beverage company based in Stamford, Connecticut. A former subsidiary of Nestlé, it was known between 2002 and 2021 as Nestlé Waters North America, Inc. and operated as the North American business un ...
*
Corporate Accountability International
Corporate Accountability (formerly INFACT, Corporate Accountability International) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1977. Their campaign headquarters are in Boston, Massachusetts, and they have offices in Oakland, California; Seattle, Washi ...
*
International Bottled Water Association
*
List of Nestlé brands
This is a dated list of the brands owned by Nestlé globally. Overall, Nestlé owns over 2000 brands in 186 countries. Brands in this list are categorized by their targeted markets.
Beverages
* Bear Brand
* Carnation
* Caro (sold in the US a ...
*
Nestlé Pure Life
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nestle Waters
W
Bottled water brands
Food and drink companies established in 1992
French companies established in 1992
Drink companies of France
Hauts-de-Seine
Companies based in Île-de-France