Since 2005, Thompson Dean has served as chief executive officer of New York’s Avista Capital Partners, which invests in companies working in a range of sectors. One of the companies that Thompson Dean and his Avista team have invested in is Hi-Crush Partners LP, a company that produces and distributes monocrystalline sand. 

Hi-Crush’s monocrystalline sand is used in oil and natural gas wells to improve hydrocarbon recovery rates. The company recently entered into an agreement that will lead to the acquisition of Texas-based Permian Basin Sand Company, LLC. 

Permian Basin Sand maintains more than 55 million tons of 100 mesh frac sand in a reserve that is more than 1,220 acres. The acquisition includes the possibility of purchasing additional acreage to expand the reserve in the future. The current reserve is strategically located in the heart of the Permian Basin, where significant Delaware and Midland Basin activity takes place.

With the acquisition complete, Hi-Crush intends to build a new sand processing plant on the site that will produce three million tons per year. The facility is projected to cost $45 million to $50 million and the purchase was valued at $275 million. The acquisition is part of a larger campaign to expand Hi-Crush that also involved the purchase of a processing facility in Whitehall, Wisconsin.v