Re-reading the first joyful tidings of business partnerships that have since gone bad is a little like looking at the wedding photographs of a couple on the verge of divorce.

Welcoming a “comprehensive partnership” with Volkswagen in December 2009, Osamu Suzuki, the Japanese carmaker’s chairman, said he was “very much impressed about the enthusiasm of VW towards manufacture of splendid automobiles”. Earlier this month, as tensions between the two companies erupted, he blogged gloomily that VW “might have come to think that they wanted to take control”.

Similarly, when Abilio Diniz, the Brazilian supermarket tycoon, deepened his partnership with Casino of France in 2005, he hailed the “excellent relationship” with the French retailer. In June, however, it emerged he had proposed a deal with Casino’s arch-rival, Carrefour. But in an interview, Mr Diniz made it sound as though he was the jilted party: “Since this came out, [Casino boss Jean-Charles Naouri] hasn’t called ... still, I’m not bitter.”