Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Bermuda-based Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd., one of the city's biggest downtown landlords, has increased its interest in Singapore developer MCL Land Ltd. to more than 50 percent, it said in a statement.

Hongkong Land, which in December offered to pay S$1.75 per share for the Singapore company, has received acceptances for 151 million shares, or about 40.8 percent, of MCL Land, the Hong Kong-based company said in statement to the Singapore stock exchange late yesterday. HongKong Land already owned 9.5 percent of MCL Land.

"The voluntary conditional cash offer for Singapore-listed residential property developer MCL Land had become unconditional," Hongkong Land said in the statement.

The offer was made after shareholders of Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd., a Singapore car distributor, voted in favor of the distribution of MCL Land shares as a dividend. Jardine Cycle owns 65.6 percent of MCL Land and Hongkong Land said the approval was a condition for the offer to proceed.

Hongkong Land is controlled by Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-based investment company. Jardine Strategic owns 45 percent of Hongkong Land, Bloomberg data showed. Jardine Strategic also owns 62.2 percent of Jardine Cycle & Carriage, which distributes Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Kia Motors Corp. cars in Singapore.

The closing date of the acquisition offer has been extended to Feb. 17 from Feb. 3 to comply with regulations in Singapore, Hongkong Land said.

Hongkong Land shares rose 1.2 percent to close yesterday at S$3.38. MCL Land shares closed 0.6 percent higher at S$1.73 yesterday in Singapore. The market is closed today for a holiday.