(Adds deal valuation)
WARSAW, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. aluminium wheel maker Superior Industries International has launched an offer to buy Uniwheels for around $715 million after winning the support of the Warsaw-listed company's biggest shareholder.
Superior Industries said on Thursday it had agreed to buy the 61.3 stake in Uniwheels held by the company's founding Schmid family for 226.50 zlotys per share and was offering 235.83 zlotys each for the remaining shares -- below the current stock price.
The deal values Germany-headquartered Uniwheels at 7.9 times its 2017 expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, a premium to European car parts makers, most of which trade at multiples of 5-6 times their expected core profit.
Uniwheels shares, which surged 74 percent last year and have risen around another 17 percent this year, were down 5.5 percent to 242 zlotys at 1435 GMT.
Superior Industries, the largest supplier of aluminium wheels for light vehicles in North America, said the deal would create one of the world's largest suppliers of such wheels to the automotive industry.
Uniwheels, which features brands such as ATS, Rial, Alutec and Anzio, supplies carmakers including BMW, Mercedes, Peugeot and Volkswagen .
Uniwheels shareholders can subscribe to sell their shares between April 12 and May 25. The settlement of the tender offer is due on May 30.
Uniwheels shares debuted on the Warsaw stock exchange in May 2015 at 105 zlotys apiece in one of the bourse's biggest share offerings of recent years.
Superior will fund the deal in part with $660 million in new debt provided by a consortium of banks including Citi, JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Canada and Deutsche Bank and partly with preferred equity, which be purchased by buyout group TPG Growth, it said.
Investment bank Evercore acted as lead financial advisor for Superior, while Lazard advised the seller. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Mark Potter/Keith Weir)