The purpose of the company includes, in particular, management services as well as the assumption of strategic, long-term consulting mandates, including board of directors mandates. In addition, the company provides consulting, training and other services related to the acquisition, management and sale of investments of all kinds, both domestically and abroad, as well as in the areas of corporate strategy, business development, market analysis and related fields. The company may establish branches and subsidiaries, both domestically and abroad, participate in other companies, acquire, manage and dispose of intellectual property rights such as patents and licenses, assume representations and engage in any business activity and conclude contracts of any kind that may be conducive to the company's purpose or that are directly or indirectly related to the company's purpose. The company may acquire, hold, manage, encumber and sell real estate, both domestically and abroad. Excluded are transactions that are prohibited by the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad (BewG). In pursuing its corporate purpose, the company may take into account the interests of the shareholders. In particular, the company may grant loans and other direct or indirect financing to its direct and indirect subsidiaries and to third parties, including its direct and indirect shareholders and their direct and indirect subsidiaries, within the framework of cash pooling agreements (including zero balancing), and provide security of any kind for the liabilities of these parties, including by way of pledges on or fiduciary transfers of the company's assets or guarantees of any kind. This may also be done without consideration, on preferential terms, without interest, excluding the company's profit motive and/or assuming clustering risks.