The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that real estate fund Axia Real Assets has launched a $560-million hostile bid for mall owner Plaza Retail REIT, the latest in a series of takeovers aimed at taking publicly traded REITs private. The Globe's Andrew Willis writes that on Tuesday, Axia announced a non-binding offer of $5.28 per unit for Plaza, which owns 190 strip malls and retail centres in eight provinces. Axia said it decided to go public with its bid after spending two years unsuccessfully attempting to strike a friendly takeover with the REIT's board of trustees. Axia said Plaza's largest unit holder, real estate company Morguard, is "strongly supportive" of the offer and prepared to vote its 15.3-per-cent stake in favour of the takeover. Axia said it made its offer to Plaza trustees on June 8, when units in the REIT closed at $4.42 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. At the time, the bid represented a 21-per-cent premium to the prize of Plaza units. Since June 8, the price of Plaza units has risen steadily. On Tuesday, after Axia went public with its bid, the price of Plaza units jumped 9 per cent to $5.11, just below the takeover offer. Plaza has $670-million of debt, making the bid worth $1.23-billion.