Middle-market lender Golub Capital, led by CEO Lawrence Golub, has sold a minority stake in the firm to Dyal Capital Partners. Golub will use the investment to expand services and resources. The lender, which has more than $25 billion of capital under management, arranges Golub Capital One-Loan Debt (GOLD) facilities up to $1 billion. The lender, founded in 1994, has more than 350 employees in offices across Chicago, New York and San Francisco. "Dyal's investment gives us new resources to advance our mission to be the best at sponsor finance," says Lawrence Golub. "We are excited to welcome Dyal as our partner for the next phase of our growth." Dyal, a division of Neuberger Berman, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Petershill recently acquired a minority stake in private equity firm Clearlake Capital Partners. Founded in 2011, Dyal acquires minority equity interests in institutional alternative asset management businesses. In recent years, the firm has bought minority, non-voting stakes in a slew of private equity firms, including: H.I.G. Capital, KPS Capital Partners, Silver Lake, Vector Capital and Vista Equity Partners. The firm has also invested in lender Cerberus Business Finance LLC. Dyal currently has 33 minority partnerships. For PE firms, selling minority stakes is a path to raising capital for expansion and for some general partners to gain liquidity. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (NYSE: JPM) and Kirkland & Ellis advised Golub. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP advised Dyal.

Indra Nooyi is stepping down as chief executive officer of food and beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. (Nasdaq: PEP), handing the reins to a top lieutenant in a transition that will draw attention to the dearth of prominent female CEOs in corporate America. Nooyi, 62, will leave the role in October and remain chairman until early 2019. Ramon Laguarta, 54, who has been a candidate to take over since a promotion last year to president, will be just the sixth CEO in the 53-year history of the company. Nooyi, who is from India, is the first foreign-born CEO of Pepsi and the first woman to lead the chips-and-soda behemoth, whose revenue topped $63 billion last year. In M&A, Pepsi was rebuffed in 2016 in its attempt to take a major stake in Chobani, the Greek-yogurt maker. The company pushed into the dairy case with the 2011 purchase of a majority stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC, Russia’s leading branded food-and-beverage company. Under Nooyi's tenure, Pepsi considered and passed on large transactions that could have dramatically altered the company. “Everybody says, ‘Hey, do a transformative deal, it will put you in the neon lights,’” she said. “The issue is that we’ve got to derive value from large, transformative deals. And we didn’t find one that would create shareholder value.” The departure of Nooyi drops the number of women CEOs in the S&P 500 to 24, according to data compiled by researcher Catalyst, which advocates for more women in executive positions. Kathy Warden is scheduled to become CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) in January, which would bring the total back to 25, points out Bloomberg News. Read the full story: Pepsi's Indra Nooyi ends 12-year run as company's first female CEO.

Deal news
Silver Lake has made a growth investment in GoodRx. GoodRx provides current prices and discounts for prescriptions at pharmacies, with the aim of helping customers with the high cost of healthcare. Since its founding in 2011, the company claims to have saved consumers $6.5 billion on medications. More than 10 million Americans use GoodRx every month to lower the cost of their healthcare, and more than one-third of U.S. doctors provide information about GoodRx to their patients, according to the company. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, TripleTree, Kirkland & Ellis and M&H advised GoodRx. Ropes & Gray and Eptstein Becker & Green advised Silver Lake.

PPC Partners-backed C.H. Guenther & Son has acquired Cookietree Bakeries, a producer of thaw-and-serve cookies, bake-and-serve cookie dough, brownies and scones. The target serves restaurants and retailers. C.H. Guenther, which was acquired by PPC in 2018, makes artisan breads, buns, rolls, biscuits, gravy mixes, frozen appetizers, spices and desserts, under the Pioneer, Morrison, Tribeca and Sun-bird brands. PPC Partners, led by Tony Pritzker, recently raised its second fund at $1.8 billion. PPC Partners was launched in 2018 by Pritzker Group Private Capital as its exclusive acquirer of middle-market companies. Cody Peak Advisors advised Cookietree.

FFL Partners-backed DataOnline, a provider of industrial Internet of Things services, has purchased Independent Technologies. The target is a diversified provider of hardware, software, and services to the telecommunications, oil and gas, and power industries.

Strand Equity has bought a minority stake in Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, a seller of made-from-scratch and vegan ice cream. Van Leeuwen operates 13 ice cream shops and six trucks in New York and Los Angeles. The target also sell its products in grocery stores and retailers.

For more deal announcements, see The weekly wrap: Cisco, Genstar, US Foods.

For more on which PE firms are raising funds, see PE fundraising scorecard: Audax and Advent.

People Moves
Kristjan Kornmayer has the joined the Chertoff Group as a director of M&A advisory services. Kornmayer was previously with consulting firm Avascent. The Chertoff Group is a business strategy and M&A advisory firm that focuses on the security and risk management sector. The firm was co-founded by former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Fetaured Content
Exponent, a new group of women dealmakers, brought together 200 women from private equity funds, investment banks, entrepreneurs and advisors for the Exponent Exchange, featuring Sallie Krawcheck as the keynote speaker. Previously the CEO of Wall Streetbanks, including Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Citi Private Bank, Krawcheck serves as the CEO of Ellevest, an online investing platform for women. Mergers & Acquisitionsparticipated in the event as an in-kind sponsor, and editor-in-chief Mary Kathleen Flynnmoderated Spotlight Panel, From Startups to Showtime: Investment Case Studies. Check out our slideshow, Exponent drew 200 women dealmakers to event featuring Sallie Krawcheck.

Mergers & Acquisitions has announced the Rising Stars of Private Equity. These 11 up-and-coming investors are expected to play significant leadership roles in the future. Congratulations to:
Daniel Hopkin, Partner, Kainos Capital
John Kos, Principal, GTCR
Erik Latterell, Director, Stone Arch Capital
Ethan Liebermann, Principal, TA Associates
Jaime McKenzie, Director, Monomoy Capital
Jennifer Roach, Vice President, Yellow Wood Partners
Joseph Rondinelli, Principal, Frontenac
David Shainberg, Vice President, Balmoral
Tom Smithburg, Vice President, Shore Capital Partners
Nicholas Stone, Managing Director, Cyprium Partners
Afaf Ibraheem Warren, Senior Associate, Siris Capital
For profiles of the emerging leaders, see Meet Mergers & Acquisitions' 11 Rising Stars of Private Equity.

Summer reading list: From stories of star athletes Arnold Palmer, Keith Hernandez and Tiger Woods to advice from entrepreneurs Bridgewater AssociatesRay Dalio, KPCB’s John Doerr, Nike’s Phil Knight and Brava Investments’ Nathalie Molina Niño, plus strategies to help business leaders in general, and female dealmakers in particular, the 15 books on Mergers & Acquisitions’ list entertain, instruct and inspire. Check out our listicle: Dealmaker’s guide to summer reading: 15 new books.