Shattering win Former glass magnate Don Mathieson has scored a shattering win against Melbourne's Silman family, who have been an obstacle to his takeover bid for mining explorer World Oil Resources. The Takeovers Panel on Tuesday provided detailed reasons for a recent ruling that a chunk of shares held by companies associated with Maurice Silman and sons Ariel and Ezra should be seized by the corporate watchdog and sold off. Using a diagram reminiscent of Kim Beazley's infamous ''Noodle Nation'' chart, the panel traced the complicated relationship between members of the Silman family and the companies in which they have an interest. The panel found that the Silman companies, including listed group Bisan, controlled a total of 29.1 per cent of World Oil, but had failed to disclose their association with each other. It also noted ''substantial'' recent payments to Ariel Silman and Bisan director David Herszberg. World Oil has a consultancy agreement with a company half-owned by Ariel Silman, who made a business trip to Brazil for World Oil in February and March as part of the deal. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is to sell off the 9.1 per cent that falls over the 20 per cent threshold at which takeover bids are required to be lodged. Mathieson, who is related to pokies kingpin Bruce Mathieson and made his pile selling his glass business to CSR, is offering 1.3¢ a share cash through his private company Holdrey, which will fund the offer ''through its ample existing cash reserves''. While shares have been trading slightly higher than the offer, at 1.4¢, Mathieson reckons it's a good offer given recent ''significant upheaval'' at the company. In a bidders' statement lodged late last month, he outlined a series of woes including the write-off of its Brazilian assets, negative operating cash flows and the resignation of the company's chairman and managing director. The company burned $527,000 in cash in the first three months of the year and has $24,000 in the bank.
