UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Before the

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 

Release No. 92211 / June 21, 2021

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING

File No. 3-20163

In the Matter of

Covia Holdings Corp. and 

Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc.

now known as Bison Merger Sub I, 

LLC,

Respondents. 

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ORDER APPOINTING 

FUND ADMINISTRATOR AND 

SETTING ADMINISTRATOR’S 

BOND AMOUNT

On December 8, 2020, the Commission issued an Order Instituting Cease-and-Desist 

Proceedings Pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21C of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Making Findings, and Imposing a Cease-and-Desist Order (the 

“Order”)1 against Covia Holdings Corp. (“Covia”) and Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc. 

(“Fairmount”) (collectively, the “Respondents”). In the Order, the Commission found that from 

2014 to 2018, Fairmount, a provider of sand-based products used by oil and gas exploration and 

production companies for fracking, misled investors by overstating the performance and 

commercial potential of high-margin proppant products it was developing and selling, 

PowerProp, Propel SSP and Propel SSP 350. According to the Order, Fairmount’s materially 

false and misleading statements about these products appeared in offering documents in 

connection with its 2014 initial public offering and two subsequent offerings in 2016; in annual, 

quarterly, and current reports filed with the Commission; in presentations to investors and 

 

1

 Securities Act Rel. No. 10897 (Dec. 8, 2020).
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analysts; and on the company’s website. At the end of June 2020, Covia, and its U.S. 

subsidiaries, including Fairmount, filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 

reorganization.

The Commission ordered the Respondents to pay, jointly and severally, a penalty of $17 

million, which was deemed satisfied by a cash payment from Covia in the amount of $1 million 

pursuant to Covia Holdings Corporation and its Debtor Affiliates’ confirmed Chapter 11 plan or 

an order of the bankruptcy court allowing such claim and authorizing such payment. The 

Commission also created a Fair Fund, pursuant to Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 

2002, so the penalty paid can be distributed to harmed investors (the “Fair Fund”).

The Fair Fund consists of the $1,000,000.00 paid by the Respondents.

The Fair Fund has been deposited in an interest-bearing account at the U.S. Department 

of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, and any accrued interest will be for the benefit of 

the Fair Fund. The Division of Enforcement now seeks the appointment of Analytics Consulting 

LLC (“Analytics”) as the fund administrator and requests that the administrator’s bond be set at 

$1,000,000.00. Analytics is included in the Commission’s approved pool of administrators.
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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Analytics is appointed as the fund 

administrator, pursuant to Rule 1105(a) of the Commission’s Rules on Fair Fund and 

Disgorgement Plans (“Commission’s Rules”),2 and shall obtain a bond in accordance with Rule 

1105(c) of the Commission’s Rules,3in the amount of $1,000,000.00.

For the Commission, by the Division of Enforcement, pursuant to delegated authority.4

Vanessa A. Countryman

Secretary 

 

2

 17 C.F.R. § 201.1105(a).

3

 17 C.F.R. § 201.1105(c).

4

 17 C.F.R. § 200.30-4(a)(17).