SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) ? Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd., one of the city?s biggest downtown landlords, will buy MCL Land Ltd. in a transaction that values the Singapore developer at S$647.5 million ($383 million).

Hongkong Land will pay S$1.75 ($1.04) a share for MCL Land, the Hong Kong-based company said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange last week. The price is a 25 percent premium from MCL Land?s closing price of S$1.40 yesterday.

The acquisition gives Hongkong Land an avenue to grow in the residential property markets of Singapore and Malaysia. The company has been expanding in Singapore and recently won a S$1.8 billion government land sale earlier this year.

?Hongkong Land considers that MCL Land?s position in the Singapore and Malaysian markets will be enhanced by being a member of a focused property group,? Hongkong Land said.

Both Hongkong Land and MCL Land are controlled by Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based investment company. Jardine Strategic owns 45 percent of Hongkong Land.

Jardine Strategic also owns 62.2 percent of Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd., which distributes Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Kia Motors Corp. cars in Singapore. Jardine Cycle in turn owns 65.6 percent of MCL Land, which it said it would distribute to its shareholders as dividend. After the distribution, Jardine Strategic would own 40.8 percent of MCL Land.