US private equity fund Warburg Pincus exited its investment in China Huiyuan Juice, declining to swap its convertible bonds for a 7% equity stake in the company, the Financial Times reported. Warburg is the first significant shareholder of Huiyuan to leave its investment since the failure of a US$2.4 billion takeover bid for Huiyuan by Coca-Cola. The high-profile deal was blocked by China’s antitrust authorities, reportedly because Beijing was concerned about losing a major brand to a foreign group. Since the collapse of the deal, there has been wide-spread speculation over the juice firm’s future ownership. Warburg and France’s Danone had been cornerstone investors in Huiyuan ahead of the company’s listing in Hong Kong in early 2007.