The company's purpose is the acquisition and holding of intellectual property rights and licenses, the management of intellectual property rights and licenses, as well as their exploitation, also through the granting of licenses or sub-licenses, in Switzerland and abroad. The company may establish branches and subsidiaries in Switzerland and abroad, hold participations in other companies, represent third parties, and engage in any commercial activity and conclude any type of agreement that may be suitable to promote the company's purpose, or that are directly or indirectly related to it. The company may acquire, hold, manage, encumber, and sell real estate in Switzerland and abroad. Transactions prohibited by the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners (LAFE) are excluded. The company may, in particular, grant loans or other direct or indirect financing, including those within the framework of cash pooling agreements (including zero balancing), to companies directly or indirectly controlled and to third parties, including its direct or indirect shareholders and companies directly or indirectly controlled by them; to secure the obligations entered into by them, the Company may provide guarantees or collateral of any kind, including pledges on the Company's assets or fiduciary assignments of the same. All of this may occur even without consideration, on preferential terms, interest-free, by waiving the company's profit purpose and/or assuming significant risks (klumpenrisiken).