You've now got locked in the 'option' to buy up to 5% of your...

You've now got locked in the 'option' to buy up to 5% of your current holdings within the next year at a fixed price of $4.50, at no up-front cost to you. Sure, if you have the money now and are going to buy the shares anyway you're better off paying the current price. However, if you don't have the money available now, or would rather see how the next year plays out before committing further capital to RAC, you can do so knowing that the most you'll need to pay per share is $4.50 (up to the number of options you have of course).

If you're a bird in the hand kind of person and don't see any value in having those options, you can even arrange with people privately (some have already advertised in this thread) to buy your options and receive cold hard cash now instead.