The company's purpose is the acquisition, long-term management, and exploitation of holdings in Swiss and foreign companies, as well as the provision of related consulting, financing, management, planning, and coordination services. The company may also buy and sell, distribute, manage, receive, and license technologies, technical know-how, patents, trademarks, licenses, and intellectual property rights in sectors related to the company's purpose. The company may also engage in lending, guaranteeing (including mortgages), endorsing, and providing surety services, excluding, however, banking and insurance activities. The company may directly or indirectly acquire interests and holdings in other industrial, commercial, financial, and service companies in Switzerland or abroad, in sectors related to the company's purpose or in other sectors, and open branches and subsidiaries in Switzerland and abroad. The company may also buy, enhance, encumber, manage, administer, and sell real estate in Switzerland and abroad, as well as participate in real estate companies and enterprises based and/or operating in Switzerland and abroad, in compliance with applicable laws, with particular reference to the Federal Law on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad (LAFE). Finally, the company may carry out all commercial, industrial, and financial operations or other activities deemed necessary or useful, functionally connected with the company's purpose or aimed at achieving it.