Cupertino (California): Hewlett Packard (HP) said that shareholders approved the hotly contested merger with Compaq, but the result was swiftly disputed by merger opponents as premature.

In a statement on March 19, the company said that "based on a preliminary estimate of shareowner proxies by its proxy solicitor, it believes it has received sufficient votes to approve HP's merger with Compaq Computer Corporation."

Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina said shareholders had approved the company's plan by a margin, which is "slim but sufficient".

For his part, Walter Hewlett, the dissident HP board member and family heir who has been battling to block the deal, refused to admit defeat, saying the vote remains "too close to call".

"We stand by our statement that the results, are too close to call, it is simply impossible to determine the outcome of the vote at this time," he said in a statement.

HP acknowledged that its estimate was not an official tally and that official certification of the voting results "is expected in the next few weeks".

The vote to ratify or torpedo the 22-billion-dollar merger capped a six-month civil war between HP's hard-charging CEO and Walter Hewlett.