A Colorado-based investor has increased his ownership in ML Macadamia Orchards LP to 38.4 percent of the partnership's Class A units after seeking up to 45 percent of the shares through a tender offer.

A filing at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show former publishing software executive Farhad "Fred" Ebrahimi was able to buy 234,373 units through the offer to pay $2.20 for each share tendered.

Class A units are the equivalent of stock.

Ebrahimi and an investment firm affiliated with him began the tender offer Oct. 7, with a deadline of last Thursday for people to indicate they wanted to sell their Class A units to him. Before his offer, the shares of the Hilo-based company were trading in the low $2 range, but eventually rose above his proposed price.

Yesterday, Ebrahimi disclosed his holdings had risen to 2.88 million of ML Macadamia's partnership units, or 38.4 percent. Previously he owned or controlled 35 percent of the macadamia nut grower.

The offer had been made through Ebrahimi's Crescent River Agriculture LLC, which proposed buying up to 750,000 units for $2.20 each. The purchase of the 234,373 units cost about $516,000.

ML Macadamia says it is the world's largest grower of premium macadamia nuts and owns or controls 4,190 acres on the Big Island. The company was formed in 1986 when it acquired more than 2,400 acres owned by C. Brewer & Co. Ltd.

Ebrahimi, who once headed and owned Denver-based Quark Inc., a leading maker of desktop publishing software, has been buying shares in ML Macadamia for a dozen years, filings show.