The key directors of Baltimore Technologies survived a knife-edge vote by shareholders at its e.g.m. yesterday and immediately pledged to transform the company into a clean energy firm.

The vote in favour of the board follows months of acrimonious debate between Baltimore's management team and its largest single shareholder, the offshore investment firm Acquisitor.

Bermuda-based Acquisitor,which owns 16 per cent of Baltimore, had forced the firm to call the e.g.m and proposed resolutions to sack the entire board.

In a very close vote, Baltimore shareholders rejected most of Acquisitor's resolutions in a move that paves the way for Mr David Weaver to become Baltimore's new chief executive.

But the former software giant's shareholders also expressed clear frustration with the current board by voting for a proposal to remove two retiring non-executive directors, Mr George Powlick and Mr Simon Enoch. Baltimore said the vote against Mr Powlick and Mr Enoch would have no impact on the firm because both had already announced that they would retire from the board.

Mr Bijan Khezri, Baltimore's non-executive chairman, said he was pleased with the result of the vote and urged the firm's biggest shareholder to work with management for the good of the firm. "I made it very clear to Mr Duncan Soukup from Acquisitor at the meeting that, whatever the result, we need to co-operate following the vote," said Mr Khezri. "We will now negotiate with Acquisitor, but not in the media... I will speak to them later by phone."

Mr Khezri said Baltimore's management would make presentations to institutions over the next few weeks in an attempt to find new investors. He also indicated that new institutional investors may buy out Acquisitor's 16 per cent stake in Baltimore.

Baltimore, which is now a £25 million cash shell, will pursue acquisition opportunities in the green energy sector, according to Mr Khezri.

Acquisitor made no comment on the results of the e.g.m. The company had appealed directly to Baltimore investors through "town hall" meetings held in London and Dublin. But the results show it attracted only one million votes on top of the 8.6 million it already controlled through its 16 per cent shareholding.

Almost 20 million votes were cast in the contest out of a possible total of 54 million. It is unclear how Baltimore's 10,000 Irish shareholders voted.

Mr Khezri just survived the vote, polling 9.7 million votes in favour of him retaining his job and 9.6 million votes against. All the other votes were also close.

Baltimore was formerly based in Dublin under the management of the current chief executive of the FAI, Mr Fran Rooney.