Acquisition, holding, management, exploitation and disposal of participations in companies in Switzerland and abroad, whether directly or indirectly; acquisition, holding, management, encumbrance, exploitation and disposal of real estate and intellectual property rights; the company may grant direct or indirect financing to its direct or indirect subsidiaries as well as to third parties, including its direct or indirect shareholders and their direct or indirect subsidiaries, provide security of any kind for its own liabilities and those of other companies (including direct or indirect shareholders of the company or companies in which these shareholders are directly or indirectly involved), including by way of pledges or fiduciary transfers or assignments of the company's assets, or provide guarantees, enter into suretyships or otherwise secure or guarantee the obligations of these other companies, whether for consideration or not; may engage in liquidity balancing/concentration of net liquidity (cash pooling) with the aforementioned companies or join such a system, including periodic account balancing; this also without consideration, on preferential terms, without interest, excluding the company's pursuit of profit and assuming cluster risks; may carry out all commercial, financial and other activities that appear to promote the purpose of the company, are related to it or are in the interest of the group or its group companies.