The company's purpose is to acquire, manage and sell participations in companies. The company may participate in other undertakings, acquire, exploit, manage and sell real estate and intellectual property rights, establish subsidiaries and branches in Switzerland and abroad, and carry out all legal transactions that may be connected with the company's purpose or that are suitable to promote 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 invested, its direct or indirect shareholders, and companies in which such parties are directly or indirectly invested, whether by means of loans or other financing, including within the framework of cash pooling agreements, and may provide security of any kind for their obligations, including by means of pledges on or fiduciary transfers of the company's assets or by guarantees of any kind, whether against payment or not.