In short you won’t lose out.The takeover price per share will be...

In short you won’t lose out.

The takeover price per share will be calculated based on the takeover amount divided by the fully diluted number of shares on issue (based on all options being exercised).

The value of the options will then equal the takeover price per fully paid share minus the excercise price of the option.

In some takeover scenarios you’ll need to excercise your options first and then be paid out only on fully paids.

In other scenarios the takeover company will pay you out on both the fully paid shares and the options without having to excercise them first.

And don’t forget the shares and options will still be trading on market for months after the takeover offer is accepted before it goes through officially. So the third option would be to sell your options on market at a small discount to investors that want to come in and make a quick 5% profit (or whatever it is) on this trade.

The same thing actually happens with the fully paids after the takeover is announced where some shareholders are happy to sell on market at a discount and get their money straight away rather than wait longer for the full amount.

Either way there’s no risk that you won’t get fair value for the options that you’re holding.