No. You must first participate in the 8 cents offer (1 new share...

No. You must first participate in the 8 cents offer (1 new share for every 7 you hold on the record date). For every 2 new shares you acquire under that offer, you will be given an option to buy 1 VXR share for 13.5 cents up until a specific date (I think it will be two years into the future).

The options must be allocated to you before you can exercise them (e.g. exercise means pay the 13.5 cents to get the new share). Until you exercise the offer, the options will appear under your HIN with a special code, to differentiate them from normal VXR shares. Although sometimes you can trade options, for these particular options that is not allowed. You either exercise them before the expiry date or let them lapse. It should be a no brainer to exercise the options so long as the VXR share price stays above 13.5c. If it fell below 13.5c, then it would be cheaper to buy VXR directly on the market.

Once you are allocated the options you do not need to exercise them straight away but can hold them and only exercise just before the expiry date. One reason you would want to do that is if you are really strapped for cash or the sp of VXR falls so low that you are not sure whether to exercise or not and are doing a wait and see. One reason to exercise straight away is if you intend to sell the acquired shares from the options as soon as you have had them for 1 year to get the 50% CGT discount, so you want to have the acquired date as early as possible.