Stig, the shares were issued to Alliance Capital effectively as...

Stig, the shares were issued to Alliance Capital effectively as part payment for raising the funds, so why not take the money? Given the options again were free so, unlike those who have paid for them, if they lapse what have they lost? If I were them I would gamble on the options as they could provide a greater upside. While the top 20 may provide some information (or not), the question that you need to be asking is who is buying? Given the amount of paper on issue I suspect that there is probably a large element of day trading in play here. At these levels an upward movement of $0.001 could result in a tidy profit, enough to go around a few times.

Generally options are always considered to be a bonus (carrot) however, it is the length that needs to be considered and long dated options are always considered better than short dated. Given that the new options to be issued in April only have around 2/2.5 months to go, you could possibly expect that there could be some selling pressure on them, as some of the holders may move to take the money. Of course given they were free so some (if not all) may elect to hold and see if they come into the money, if they lapse what have they lost? You are correct in the there was one CR to all Shareholders and I think you will find that it was a failure in that there was very little support, are you looking for another pro-rata offer?