The purpose of the company is the development, production, marketing, distribution and sale of tobacco and nicotine products, including related devices, technologies and accessories, in Switzerland and abroad. The company may participate in other enterprises as well as acquire, utilize, manage and dispose of real estate and intellectual property rights, establish subsidiaries and branches in Switzerland and abroad and, in addition, carry out all legal acts that the purpose of the company may entail or that are suitable for promoting its development or that of group companies. The company may grant direct or indirect financing to third parties, including companies in which it is directly or indirectly involved, its direct or indirect shareholders and companies in which these shareholders are directly or indirectly involved, either by means of loans or other financing, including within the framework of cash pooling agreements, and may also provide securities of any kind for their liabilities, including by means of pledges on or fiduciary transfers of the company's assets or by means of guarantees of any kind, whether for consideration or not. In pursuing its corporate purpose, the company may take into account the interests of the group companies.