Your question has 2 parts to answer.
1. If you place a buy order "@ market" the purchase date will be the same day. They become registered in your buyer's name 2 business days later, called T+2. If you place a buy order @ a specific price below what current sellers are willing to sell at, then you'll have to wait for sellers to come down to your price before you "get" them, and only even then if your place in the queue of buyers @ the same price is reached because the sellers are wishing to sell sufficient shares to satisfy buyers' requirements.
2. As for the time it takes to exercise oppies you can then do that by searching online for a standard Exercise of Options form (not sure though how you can find this Form online). Then scan it, complete it in writing - using the exact spelling of the name of the buyer that bought the oppies - and either snailmail it to 88E' s Share Registry - Computershare - with your cheque, for them to process it, or again you might be able to do that online but you'd have to find out from C'share its bank a/c details for 88E, for you to BPay the conversion cost of the oppies you're exercising. Once they've got the Form, & the $, you are then in their hands as to how many days it will take them to issue the shares on 88E's behalf. YOu could ask them over the phone for such period, but I doubt they'll guarantee that, so your online broker's webpage - that lists what your CHESS holdings are - will probably be the 1st confirmation of the day your holding of the shares has been allotted, and thus only on that day will you be able to sell such shares.
FYI I hold only the Oppies but because of the vagaries of what I've outlined above, I'm contemplating selling them once they "catch up" to the "heads" i.e. to a price where the difference between the 2 is less than 2 cents - & IMO I think that will happen given the leverage of the price diff. right now, and then - without having to outlay further capital - buy the equiv. # of "heads" with the net proceeds of the sale of the Oppies, PROVIDED that is my choice of action.
There is far more liquidity in the "Heads" because only they are listed on the LSE; the Oppies are not.
Secondly give thought to the following scenario.
If you do what I'm contemplating - as per the previous para. - and presume I own 400,000 Oppies at an av. Cost of today's 3.8c close = $15,200.
Ignoring brokerage both ways, if I sell them in a few days when the Oppies reach say 4.2c (=$16,800 proceeds) and the shares are still buyable @ 6.0, after a short-term dump that doesn't happen to the "better-bet" Oppies - then I could acquire 280,000 shares with that $16,800.
Given that the Oppies still have ~9 months to go to Expiry Date, and whatever news is released within the next 4- 6 weeks DOES move, substantially Northward as expected, the SP of BOTH the shares & CORRESPONDINGLY the Oppies (i.e. the price differential - for even a considerable # of months from now - will remain ~2c (between the heads & the Oppies) it is simply mathematically logical that you'll make far greater capital gain - once news of even just good flow rates Is released (400k / 280k = 42.857% more!) - by doing nothing with your Oppies, nor even contemplate doing what I'm contemplating! Trust that helps. GT.
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