For this issue of Manager of the Month we explore the North American lower middle market firm, JLL Partners. The North American middle market is also being actively discussed and mapped by LPs on the LP Gateway forum market mapping pages.
JLL Partners (“JLL”) is a US–based lower middle-market private equity firm tracing its roots back to merchant bank Gilliam Joseph Littlejohn & Levy in the late 1980s. The firm shortly raised two funds under the name Joseph, Littlejohn & Levy, headed by William Gilliam, Peter Joseph, and Angus Littlejohn. Littlejohn resigned from the firm in 1996 to start the now well-known turnaround private equity firm, Littlejohn & co. Following this, in 1998, Peter Joseph left and joined Palladium Equity Partners. As a result, the firm rebranded to its current name, JLL Partners, for their subsequent fund raising.
Today JLL is headed up by long term managing partners Dan Agroskin, Kevin Hammond and Frank Rodriguez, each boasting at least 20 years at the firm. Underneath them sits four managing directors and a comparatively newer selection of principals and associates. JLL is based out of New York, NY.
Strategy
JLL focuses on control buyouts, in lower middle-market companies. The firm operates a thesis driven approach, utilising its hypothesis development to be a “first mover” in its chosen sectors / sub-sectors of healthcare (pharmaceutical, healthtech, devices and diagnostics and outsourced care), aerospace, defense and industrials (industrial services, industrial tech, specialty distribution) and business services (legal and tech, governance, consulting and financial services). Each are subsectors that JLL is both familiar with and typically prove resilient, with low correlation to market cycles and strong macro fundamentals. Though they may invest in well-regulated and potentially complex markets.
Target firms typically exhibit between $5-30 million in EBITDA with durable business models, high barriers to entry and recurring revenues. Important to its value-investor angle is a low / discounted entry valuation (c.9.0x or ideally lower), and a conservative leverage profile. To facilitate this, JLL aims to be first institutional capital and source outside of auctions, which it has successfully executed on the majority of the time. That said, the firm does not avoid complexity or stressed balance sheets in the right situations.
JLL portfolio companies often operate in a fragmented market, given M&A execution and integration is a primary value-creation lever for the firm. JLL has completed numerous add-ons over the past 20 years. Outside of M&A the firm also provides broad value creation brush strokes such as go-to-mkt and product development.
Performance
JLL has a long history under their belt, over which the firm has seen a wide range of realisations. Fund IX, which is currently raising has begun its investment period. Several of JLL’s completed investments include:
- Vascular Technology — One of JLL’s latest investments, announced in June 2025. Vascular Technology is a medical device company specializing in surgical devices and intraoperative products.
- Jonathan Engineered Solutions — A 2021 acquisition of a ruggedized components and enclosure solutions provider serving the defense, aerospace, and specialty industrial sectors.
- Xact Data Discovery — A leading eDiscovery and data management services provider.
- MedeAnalytics — A healthcare analytics platform acquired in 2020, serving hospitals, health systems, and payors with advanced data insights.
Fundraising
JLL has raised eight funds to date, scaling since inception. Fund sizing has varied to a minor extent with fund VIII raising ~$850 million which was below the target of $1.25 billion. The firm is currently in the market with fund IX, which reportedly targeted $900 million but has raised ~$1.3 billion to date.
JLL is represented by Houlihan Lokey.
If you have a manager you think should be featured for “Manager of the Month”, or you are a GP and would like to be featured, reach out to contact@lpgateway.com with your suggestion.
