Trust Principles guardians add merger lawyer to board

The Trust Principles are designed to preserve the independence, integrity and freedom from bias of the entire Thomson Reuters business in the gathering and dissemination of information and news.

Turnbull practised as a lawyer in the City of London for more than 30 years, specialising in public and private mergers and acquisitions, equity offerings and corporate advisory work. He retired this year after spending five years with law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn. Prior to that, he was a partner at Linklaters from 1985 to 2008.

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, chairman of the Founders Share Company’s board, said: “Steven Turnbull has been well known to and highly respected by our Board thanks to his many years as our principal legal adviser. He will now add this strength to the Board as a trustee. He was close to the process of combining Reuters with the Thomson Corporation five years ago, and brings valuable understanding of the workings of a news organization. I look forward to continuing our cooperation with him as a board member.”

Turnbull said: “Having acted for the Founders Share Company as its legal adviser for over 10 years, I am aware of the importance of the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles and the Board’s role in upholding them. It is a great honour to have been asked to join the Board of the Founders Share Company, and I am looking forward to contributing in my new capacity as Director.”

The Trust Principles were created in 1941, in the midst of World War II, in agreement with the Newspaper Publishers Association and the Reuters shareholders at the time. They imposed obligations on Reuters and its employees to act at all times with integrity, independence and freedom from bias. When Reuters became a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in New York in 1984, Reuters directors and shareholders were determined to protect and preserve the Trust Principles. A unique structure was put in place to achieve this. A new company was formed and given the name Reuters Founders Share Company Limited, its purpose being to hold a single Founders Share in Reuters.

Directors of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company have a duty to ensure compliance “to the extent possible” with the Trust Principles. The board comprises 15 directors from 10 different countries. ■