TORONTO (Reuters) - Plazacorp Retail Properties (>> Plazacorp Retail Properties Ltd.) said on Monday it has agreed to acquire Keyreit (>> KEYreit) for roughly C$119 million ($116.4 million), a move that trumps an unsolicited bid from Huntingdon Capital (>> Huntingdon Capital Corp) and allows Plazacorp to expand its retail property footprint.

Marking a new round of consolidation among Canada's real estate investment trusts this year, Plazacorp said its cash and unit deal is worth C$8 per unit and has the backing of Keyreit's board of directors, which has been attempting to fend-off Huntingdon's unsolicited approach for the last two months.

"We have both specialized in smaller footprint retail properties, primarily in eastern and central Canada, so this is a great fit for us," said Plazacorp Chairman Earl Brewer, adding that the two REITs also each have Shoppers Drug Mart (>> Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation) as their largest tenant.

This is the second takeover battle involving Canadian real estate investment trusts in a span of two months.

A two-way battle for Primaris Retail REIT (>> Primaris Retail REIT) was recently resolved after H&R Real Estate Investment Trust (>> H&R Real Estate Investment Trust) and a consortium led by KingSett Capital agreed to jointly bid for the shopping center owner and carve up its assets.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Alden Bentley)