Shares in Ramsdens Holdings PLC (AIM:RFX) jumped 28% to 580p after the pawnbroker agreed a recommended cash takeover by US peer FirstCash.
The deal values Ramsdens at up to around £206 million on a fully diluted basis.
Ramsdens shareholders will receive up to 609p a share, comprising 600p in cash plus permitted dividends of up to 9p.
The cash element alone represents a 33% premium to Ramsdens' closing price on the last business day before the offer period began.
It is also pitched 22% above the company's all-time high closing price of 493p, reached on 3 June.
Alongside pawnbroking, Ramsdens sells jewellery, buys precious metals and offers foreign currency exchange services.
The business runs 174 stores across England, Scotland and Wales, alongside a growing online operation.
FirstCash, which trades on the US Nasdaq market with a market value above $10 billion, runs more than 3,300 pawnbroking outlets across the US, Latin America and the UK.
It entered the UK market last year by acquiring rival pawnbroker H&T, and said Ramsdens was a highly complementary addition.
The acquisition would cement its position as the largest publicly traded pawn platform across its three regions.
Ramsdens' directors intend to recommend the deal unanimously, having taken financial advice from Cavendish.
Those directors with shareholdings, representing about 4.13% of the company, have undertaken to vote in favour.
Chair Simon Herrick said the share price had not kept pace with the group's profit and earnings growth, despite consistent upgrades over the past year.
That performance was supported by a sustained high gold price, which peaked above $5,500 an ounce in late January.
Ramsdens' earnings are closely tied to gold, and the board flagged that any reversal in the metal's price could weigh on trading.
Chief executive Peter Kenyon pointed to the company's growth since its 2017 flotation, which has added 50 stores and more than 300 jobs.
The acquisition will be carried out through a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement and is expected to complete in the second half of 2026.
