Are stock options an attractive deal proposal in an acquisition?

Hey there,

I am a one-man startup. I have build some tech for mechanical engineering and recently got offered an acquisition deal by a large non-public corporation. Instead of paying the entire requested amount in cash, they offered a partial amount in stock options. The deal is:

Stock options for $200k
Vesting 4 years (25% per year)
Current value of the stock: ~100$

I understand that options have actually no real value. In 4 years, I can exercise the right to shares. But I can't just buy and sell them to get the $200k out. I only get the difference of the increase in the stock price. That means the company's stock price has to go from $100 to $200 to get $200,000 in 4 years. Is that correct so far?

The buyer company is owned by a very large investor group. The buyer proclaims that they are aiming to be sold within the next few years as these large investor groups don't stick around for much longer. It seems most people in the company have these stock options, but are they really attractive as they say? Especially with a potential recession ahead I have difficulties understanding their optimism for the future stock value.

They are very hesitant to pay the full amount in cash. But I don't have much expertise if they are even potentially a valuable asset or not. Therefore I don't have many arguments to push back on that matter. Could you help out?

Thanks for any insights!