By 1998 Dr Pepper/Seven Up, a subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes, was hindered by its bottling and distribution systems; owning no private bottling plants, it was dependent on independent bottlers or those controlled by Coca-Cola or Pepsi to bottle its beverages, and those two giant competitors also had better distribution systems and more influence with retail and fast-food chains.
[2] In February 1998 Cadbury Schweppes and U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group formed a joint venture named the American Bottling Company, initially consisting of the merger of two leading independent bottling groups in the Midwest: Beverage American and Select Beverages.
[3][4][5] In 1999 the American Bottling Company was combined with the Dr Pepper Bottling Company;[5][6] the consolidated company, renamed Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group (DPSUBG),[2] was designed to give Dr Pepper/Seven Up greater control over the distribution of its brands.
[8] The full ownership allowed the beverage company to established its own bottling and distribution network for its U.S. soft drink brands, which included Dr Pepper and Snapple.
[9][7] The Cadbury Schweppes Bottling Group and the other beverage operations of Cadbury Schweppes were spun off in 2008 to form Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which resulted in the bottling company being renamed Dr Pepper Snapple Bottling Group.