I thought at the time of this Ann that eventually these guys...

I thought at the time of this Ann that eventually these guys would want to raise to their US clients (or themselves) just before things kick off. They are an investment bank that specialises in Aerospace and Defense after all. I would be highly surprised if they aren't involved in the raise. When you combine that with the face that "The U5G 18 event takes place at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California, between March 15, 2018 and March 25, 2018." is taking place now then perhaps DRO got a bit of interest there and Mesirow thought "its time".

If DRO just needed cash they could have just kept the news flowing and got the oppies converted OR got the oppies conversion underwritten which is quite common too (so any un-exersized oppies would be essentially acquired for free buy the underwriter and converted to shares at 22c). The oppies conversion would have netted them $7.4m cash.

So im thinking this is more about a strategic investor/Mesirow wanting to take a cornerstone position rather than the $$ it'll bring in to DRO. Afterall, its been pretty evident lately that it would be impossible for anyone to acquire a decent sized holding on market without pushing the price up against themselves.