The company's purpose is to hold and manage participations in domestic companies. The company may establish branches in Switzerland and abroad, participate in other companies in Switzerland and abroad, acquire similar or related companies or merge with them, and enter into all transactions and conclude contracts that are suitable to promote the purpose of the company or are directly or indirectly related to it. It may acquire, manage, encumber and dispose of real estate, intellectual property rights and licenses of all kinds. The company may grant loans or other financing to third parties, including its direct or indirect parent companies and their or its direct or indirect subsidiaries, and provide security of all kinds for liabilities of such other companies, including by way of pledges on or fiduciary transfers of the company's assets or guarantees of any kind, whether against payment or not.