to invest in, acquire, hold, alienate and manage participations in Swiss or foreign companies, with the specification that the company may hold participations in real estate companies in Switzerland only if these companies have an exclusively commercial purpose; the company may carry out all operations directly or indirectly related to this purpose and take a direct or indirect interest in them; it may also carry out, on its own account or on behalf of third parties, all financial, commercial and securities transactions directly or indirectly related to its purpose or likely to promote it; the company may also grant loans or other financial services to its direct or indirect shareholders, its direct or indirect subsidiaries and third parties, and provide guarantees of any kind on its assets, including by way of pledges or fiduciary transfers or by way of guarantees of any kind, to secure the obligations of its direct or indirect shareholders, its direct or indirect subsidiaries or third parties; the Company may establish subsidiaries and branches in Switzerland and abroad.