All activities involving direct and indirect participation in any companies or enterprises, in Switzerland and abroad, in the sense of a holding company. The company may also carry out, either on its own account or on behalf of third parties, all commercial, movable and financial transactions, directly or indirectly related to its corporate purpose and which promote its development, in any form whatsoever, notably in the form of participations, excluding all real estate participations in Switzerland subject to the LFAIE. The company may open branches in Switzerland and abroad, found or acquire any enterprise pursuing an analogous or complementary purpose. The company may also grant loans or other financial services to its direct or indirect shareholders as well as to its affiliated companies (up- and cross-stream undertakings), including concluding cash pooling agreements, 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 shareholders or affiliated companies, in each case with or without consideration and even if these legal transactions are in the exclusive interest of third parties.