Accel and its limited partners have many reasons to celebrate lately. Last week, the Palo Alto, California, venture firm announced the acquisition of BBN by Raytheon. Even during the worst of the recession, this unusual co-investment with General Catalyst, which had kept a lot of observers doubting, has paid off. This exit follows 21 others over the past four years—four of them IPOs—and winds down the summer with three exits in 90 days. And Jim Breyer, its star investor, must have gone laughing all the way to the bank. Only a few hours earlier, Marvel, also one of his portfolio companies, was acquired by Disney for $4 billion.

But the story doesn’t end there. In the last five years the firm has expanded internationally, stretching its "know how" to larger deals and later-stage transactions while expanding its team. It has raised over $1 billion in China and across Asia in the past two years alone. In Europe, Accel has become the most prominent, if not the only U.S.-based firm, to successfully invest in the UK, Germany, and France. In Asia, the firm has staged a collaboration and early-stage fund with IDG. Accel’s cautious market entry into India has been praised both by local firms and by entrepreneurs.

Accel’s next round of exits will likely come from overseas investments, and these could deliver more hefty returns than they usually do in the United States. Accel Europe has invested in over 55 companies. These are poised for yet more glittering returns. Adding these numbers to Accel’s U.S. successes, and assuming a 10-15 percent stake in each, guarantees a lot of promising exits for the limited partners.

LPs have been keeping busy since 2005. They have pumped money into Accel 9 and 10, focused on early-stage transactions, and have simultaneously accompanied the international development with Accel China (two funds, including one dedicated to growth capital) and London 3 in 2008--in total nothing less than $3.7 billion for six funds. Accel 9 in the United States should return handsome profits through star companies such as Facebook, among others.

If IRR and cash returns remain the most telling metrics, Accel deserves its No. 1 ranking. The frequency of its exits brings smiles to its illustrious LPs, such as JP Morgan, Univision, Harbourvest, and Adveq. The geographic diversity of its portfolio as well as its maturity have improved the risk-return ratio for Accel's backers. In fact Accel has shown a pattern of top winners in the past four years, returning five to 10 times the money invested as well as exceptional coups such as Facebook and Admob, which will yield "out of the ballpark" money. The social-networking company fetched a valuation of $15 billion at one point and will go public in the next 18 months, according to insiders. Given its average cost per share, the eventual exit would put Accel at the same performance level of the Google investment.

Besides, Accel has prospered and kept its stars. In 2004, rumors swirled that Jim Breyer might throw in the towel and dedicate himself to something else. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Five years later, he constantly crisscrosses the globe in search of the next deal, with an instinct that has put him in the same league as Michael Moritz, Vinod Khosla, and John Doerr. His ties to corporate firms such as Wal-Mart, Dell, and others set him apart from his peers. More than 10 years ago, at its first Red Herring venture event, the editorial team had already selected Breyer has one of the upcoming VCs to watch. It looks as if we were right then, and now.

As importantly the rest of the team, including the founders, are working with enthusiasm and have earned their share of successes. Jim Swartz and Art Paterson, the veteran partners, continue to dedicate their time to investing and are grooming a next generation of professionals including Richard Wong. More than half of the exits come from partners with less than a decade in the firm. They have done their spring cleaning in Europe, and the LPs often compliment the depth of their bench as one of their reasons to continue to invest money in the firm.

Obviously, nothing will come easily for Accel in the future. Managing $6 billion to help bring over $120 million in fees to the partners could become a disincentive as shown in other cases. With the inevitable distribution of carried interest, one might worry about the partnership hunger for more trophies. However, there is no sign of slacking, on the contrary—their competitiveness with other brand names for the best investments has become more acute. Limited partners should anticipate even more surprises—and checks—in the coming year.