Quaker Chemical (KWR, Financial), a global leader in industrial process fluids, followed in second place. Its business was a direct beneficiary of the global industrial recovery toward the end of 2020, when all of its business segments returned to growth, driven primarily by the global rebound in automotive production. We believe the company is still in the early stages of a multi-year opportunity, especially because Quaker serves diverse industrial end markets on a global scale and is thus poised to benefit from a worldwide economic recovery as well as from its ongoing efforts to pay down debt and a possible return to the M&A market.
From Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio)'s Royce Investment Partners Premier Fund fourth-quarter 2020 manager commentary.
