Investor Group Raises Stake in Huntway to 7.7%

A Massachusetts investor group has raised its stake in Huntway Partners L. P. to 7.7% and says it wants representation on the Valencia company’s board of directors.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the group said it now owns 430,400 shares of Huntway, which refines crude oil to make liquid asphalt and other products. The group bought 66,500 shares between April 22 and Aug. 11 for $4.30 a share.

The group is led by Andre Danesh, an investor in Brookline, Mass., and three entities in which he has an interest: Allied Financial Corp.’s profit sharing plan, Allied Investments and E&S; Investments.

Danesh’s group said it has been “communicating with Huntway management” for the past few months about its requests for an unspecified number of board seats. The group also wants Huntway’s stockholders to be paid cash distributions, equal to $2.39 a share, that the group said are past due by Huntway.

“Group members have a great deal of confidence in the management of Huntway and have found them to be reasonable and cooperative,” the Danesh group’s filing stated.

Doug Hansen, Huntway’s chief financial officer, declined comment on the filing.