The company's purpose is to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of participations of all kinds in domestic and foreign companies of all kinds. The company may acquire, exploit, manage and dispose of intellectual property rights, establish subsidiaries and branches in Switzerland and abroad, and furthermore carry out all legal transactions that may be connected with the company's purpose 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, as well as companies in which such parties are directly or indirectly involved, whether by means of loans or other financing, including within the framework of cash pooling agreements, and provide security 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 against payment or not.