NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Private equity firms are on the hunt. And with $1 trillion sloshing around read more , the industry is bound to start playing hot potato. That happened Friday, with buyout firm EQT and Goldman Sachs’s (GS.N) asset management group agreeing to buy pharmaceutical outsourcing firm Parexel from Pamplona Capital Management for $8.5 billion. The Massachusetts-based company’s value has increased some 70% since Pamplona bought it in 2017, likely a much higher return for the buyout firm if it lopped on the typical leverage. Yet there’s a reason these values could continue to rise. That’s largely because there has also been a steady tailwind behind companies like Parexel, which helps drug companies perform research and clinical trials. Drug trials are getting bigger and more complex, and both biotechnology and giant pharma firms increasingly prefer to outsource lab work and clinical trials. As the pandemic showed, humanity needs more drugs. Parexel – and its new owners – are positioned to capitalize, again. (By Robert Cyran) On Twitter http://twitter.com/breakingviews Capital Calls - More concise insights on global finance: Didi drives straight into politics read more U.S. jobs picture is on the mend, with caveats read more Clouds disperse over Big Tech’s gaming gamble read more Life-support specialist hints at normality delay read more France draws EU battle line in China cotton spat read more