Enviri Corporation ($NVRI), a $3B special situation closing June 1, 2026 where the real opportunity is the stub left behind. Veolia is buying Clean Earth for $3.04B all-cash. Shareholders receive $15 per share plus 0.33 shares of New Enviri (two industrial businesses: steel-mill services rail). At today's NVRI price, the market is paying just 4.5x EBITDA for that stub. Peers trade at 7-8x. Strategic buyers have paid 12.5x for similar rail assets.
Here's why this could be a multibagger:
After four years of crushing pressure on European steel, the cycle is turning. EU 2025 crude steel production hit 125.8 Mt, ~20% below pre-pandemic. Harsco Environmental margins compressed from a 20.3% peak in FY21 to 16.9% in FY25. The market is treating this as the new normal. It isn't. CBAM's definitive phase went live January 1, 2026. EU steel safeguards take effect July 1, with a 47% quota cut and a 50% out-of-quota tariff. ArcelorMittal (HE's largest customer) said in its Q3 2025 release these measures "can provide a solid foundation for our European business to earn its cost of capital."
Inside the stub. Harsco Environmental: a 173-year-old on-site steel-mill services business. 25-year average customer relationship, 85% renewal rate, 50% EAF customer mix (insulated from the BF/BOF terminal-decline narrative). HE absorbed only a fraction of steel-producer EBITDA volatility over the last cycle (HE indexed 92-125 vs steel producers 138-382). Direct precedents: Apollo bought Phoenix Services at ~7.5x. Befesa trades at 7-8x. Mid-cycle EBITDA $200M, vs $172M trough.
Harsco Rail: 50 year average tenure with top customers, 70 country installed base, 39% aftermarket revenue at 2x equipment margins. The drag isn't the business, it's three legacy fixed-price ETO contracts signed pre-COVID running off mechanically (SBB ~92% complete, DB Netz renegotiated, Network Rail in exit talks). Once they complete, working capital reverses and Rail returns to $30-40M EBITDA. Wabtec just paid 12.5x for Dellner Couplers in a similar setup.
The mispricing setup. New Enviri doesn't qualify for the S&P SmallCap 600 or Russell 2000. Index funds become forced sellers on June 1. Special-sit funds that bought for the deal collect the cash and leave. Sell-side coverage halves through a spin and takes 1-3 quarters to re-initiate. A sub-$500M micro-cap with two cyclical businesses and no immediate FCF is not a trendy thing to own.
Downside is structurally protected. Net debt at 2.0x FY26 EBITDA, with $130M of restricted cash returning over 2027-2029 as Rail contracts complete. New CEO is a former M&A attorney; new CFO came out of retirement. This team is telegraphing a sale.
The math. Probability-weighted upside: 289% from the current implied stub of $12.73 per NE share over a 2-3 year horizon. Conservative case still pays 124% at a 6x multiple. Sale Realized scenario delivers 383%.
You're paying for a 4.5x trough EBITDA industrial stub at the bottom of a four-year cycle and getting the regulatory tailwind, the Rail mean-reversion, and a likely sale process for free.
Full deep dive on Undervalued and Undercovered.