Even the most determined child can hold its breath only for so long. Parents, after all, hold the purse strings. So what should investors make of the rejection by two PepsiCo bottlers of its offer to buy them out?

Shares in Pepsi Bottling Group, for example, trade at a 12 per cent premium to the implied offer price as the market expects PepsiCo to return with a higher bid. Its grounds for rejecting the approach appear legitimate: PepsiCo sees $200m of cost-saving opportunity when most analysts believe at least $500m is possible. And the multiple, at seven times earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation, is below that typical for previous beverage deals.