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This article is written by David Carey, and was originally published at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-11/jll-s-two-deals-cap-1-7-billion-payback-over-15-months.html.

JLL Partners Inc., a 26-year-old private-equity firm based in New York, boosted the cash it has returned to fund investors since the start of last year to $1.7 billion by wrapping up two deals in as many days, according to William Miles, the head of investor relations.

JLL garnered $731 million when drug producer Patheon Inc. completed a merger today with vitamin maker Royal DSM NV (DSM)’s drug business. Yesterday, the firm recouped almost half its $85 million investment in BioClinica Inc. when the clinical researcher was recapitalized and merged with a competitor.

The deals capped the biggest spurt of money harvesting in the New York-based firm’s history, Miles said. Like Blackstone Group LP, KKR & Co. and other big buyout firms, JLL and its fellow mid-size shops are taking advantage of a surge in asset values to lock in investment gains across their holdings. The capital JLL returned in the last 15 months was $300 million more than its tally from 2010 through 2012.

“We benefited from a robust environment,” JLL co-founder and managing director Paul Levy said in an interview. “The fact that rates are so low enables buyers to finance with debt at very attractive rates.”

Since the start of 2013, JLL has profitably exited window maker PGT Inc. and NetSpend Holdings Inc., a provider of reloadable prepaid debit cards, Miles said. It also reaped gains recapitalizing and taking public JGWPT Holdings Inc. (JGW), which offers cash for settlements under the J.G. Wentworth brand.

Raising Capital

The sales come as JLL gathers commitments for a new fund with a $1 billion target, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity because the capital raising is private. JLL manages about $4.2 billion across six funds.

In the Patheon transaction, JLL led a group that invested $500 million for a 51 percent stake in DPx Holdings BV, a joint venture with Heerlen, Netherlands-based Royal DSM, the companies said today in a statement. JLL’s 2008 fund put up $200 million, with co-investors, management and JLL’s partners providing the rest, Miles said. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, DPx will have about $2 billion in sales and 8,000 employees, according to the statement.

Patheon Profit

JLL in 2007 invested $150 million in Patheon through the firm’s 2005 fund, which later increased the amount to $244 million. The Royal DSM deal yielded more than a $480 million profit to investors in that fund and to the JLL partners.

In the transaction completed yesterday, JLL merged Newtown, Pennsylvania-based BioClinica and CCBR-Synarc, a Newark, California-based clinical services provider backed by Water Street Healthcare Partners LLC, a Chicago-based private-equity investor. JLL invested in BioClinica in March 2013.

Existing backers got back about 47 percent of what they had invested, Miles said. Ownership in the new entity is split about evenly between BioClinica and CCBR-Synarc’s backers.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Carey in New York atdcarey13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel atcbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net Josh Friedman, Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam.