The Irish Trade Protection Association (ITPA), publisher of the Gazette, voted yesterday to have the business acquired by Experian, a British credit agency and business information provider, for an effective price of £410,000.

Included in that figure is the ITPA's net assets of £250,000 which will be transferred to an education trust. Including proxy votes, members voted 845 to 216 in favour of the conditional business purchase agreement, which will see the 106year-old organisation lose its mutual status despite the opposition of its president, Mr Paul Mackay.

Mr Tony Leach, a director of Experian, which is owned by the £3.5 billion British multinational, Great Universal Stores, stated that the acquisition was an important part of its strategy to build an Irish business with a priority on investing in computer systems.

"Experian will be able to combine ITPA's many years' experience in the local credit market and its own expertise in operating credit bureaux to offer the most comprehensive, automated credit information reporting systems available to businesses in Ireland for managing credit risk," he said. During the debate before the vote was taken Mr Mackay said that members were being asked to convert the association into "a corporate eunuch" for a net cash consideration of £140,000.

But a former president of the association, Mr Tom Fitzpatrick, said that the proposal was "an intelligent commercial decision" where an international company would meet the ITPA's focus to provide a customer service.

Yesterday's majority vote represented 79.6 per cent of the poll of 1,061, representing almost half of the 2,300 membership.