JLL Fund VII eyes $500 mln first close

New York-based JLL is seeking $1 billion for Fund VII, a source told sister website peHUB. The pool doesn’t have a hard cap, but JLL doesn’t plan to collect more than $1.5 billion for the fund, the person said.

Jefferies is placement agent. News of the fundraising was previously reported by Bloomberg News.

Fund VII is JLL’s first fund since Ramsey Frank, a senior managing director, left the firm to start his own buyout shop. Frank joined JLL in 1999 and was mainly focused on healthcare investing. Daniel Agroskin currently leads JLL’s healthcare team.

JLL’s seventh fund is coming in bigger than its prior pool, which closed at $807 million in 2009. Fund VI is generating a net IRR of 25 percent, the person said. Fund V, which collected $1.5 billion in 2005, is producing a net IRR of 17 percent on the total fund and returned 1.5x of capital invested, the source said.

New York-based JLL, a mid-market buyout shop, targets a variety of industries with a focus on financial services, education, building products and healthcare. In the past 18 months, JLL has posted $1.7 billion in realizations from three funds: IV (which closed at  $749 million in 2002), V and VI.

JLL closed the sale in March of Patheon to DPx Holdings for $2.6 billion. JLL acquired Patheon, which provides contract drug development and manufacturing services, in 2007. It invested $244 million equity and made 3x its money with the Patheon sale, a source said.

DPx, of Durham, North Carolina, is a contract development and manufacturing organization for the pharmaceutical industry. JLL Fund VI invested $500 million equity and owns 51 percent of DPx, while Royal DSM has 49 percent.

Executives at JLL declined comment.

Luisa Beltran is a senior writer for peHUB.