Investors in Japanese elevator-maker Fujitec voted on Friday to oust three of five incumbent outside directors, the company said, giving an activist fund the kind of win that's still rare for shareholder activism in Japan.

The three rejected incumbents in the vote, taken at an extraordinary general shareholders' meeting, included the chairman of the board. Investors also elected four of six new directors nominated by Oasis Management, Fujitec's top shareholder with a 17% stake.

Though short of giving the fund control of the board, the victory is a departure for Japan, where activists have had little success to date in convincing shareholders to back proposals to fire incumbent directors.

Fujitec, a 75-year-old company founded by the Uchiyama family worth $1.9 billion by market value, has said it believes the ultimate objective of Hong Kong-based Oasis is full management control, which Oasis denies.

In a statement after the vote, Fujitec said the company "will strive to enhance governance and increase corporate value," adding that its mission to provide safe and secure products remains the same.

Oasis said in a separate statement it "will be expecting the newly constructed board to relieve Fujitec from Uchiyama family control."

Heated exchanges between Fujitec and Oasis in the run-up to the vote involved a dive into director candidate careers. Governance experts pointed to the importance of nominee background checks, as well as the case's impact on candidates deciding whether to accept nominations from activists for fear of being singled out.

The fund had sought to replace all the external directors on the existing eight-strong board with its own candidates to blunt what Oasis claims is the undue influence of the founding family, which owns about 6% of the company.

The shareholders also rejected two additional directors nominated by the company. As a result, the Fujitec board will now have nine members: three from management, two incumbent external directors and four new Oasis-backed outside directors.

"The Oasis-supported independent directors do not constitute a majority, so the path is not necessarily smooth," said Travis Lundy of Quiddity Advisors, who publishes on SmartKarma. "But they do constitute a majority of independent directors and as such, may wield more influence in future nominations."

Oasis has said the board has been protecting the former Chief Executive Officer Takakazu Uchiyama, who stepped down following revelations of real estate transactions involving his family.

The company initially said an internal investigation found no legal issues with the transactions, but later launched a third-party probe. It's not clear when the results will be announced.

Fujitec shares closed up 1.6% on Friday, while the benchmark Nikkei index rose 1.3%.