The Company's purpose is to acquire, hold, manage, finance and sell participations in other companies of any kind in Switzerland and abroad. The Company may establish branches and subsidiaries in Switzerland and abroad, take over representations and engage in any activity and conclude agreements of any kind that are likely to promote the purpose of the Company or that are directly or indirectly related to it. The Company may acquire, hold, encumber and sell national and foreign real estate. The Company is part of a group and may, as such, take into account the interests of the group in pursuing its purpose. The Company may grant loans and other direct or indirect financing to its direct or indirect subsidiaries and to third parties, including its direct or indirect shareholders and the direct or indirect subsidiaries of such shareholders, including without restriction, within the framework of liquidity management activities within the group (including zero balancing), and provide security of any kind to these parties, including by way of pledges or transfers of the Company's assets on a fiduciary basis or through guarantees of any kind, and also gratuitously, on preferential terms, without interest, excluding the pursuit of profit by the Company and/or taking concentrated risks.