The company's purpose is to trade in and hold investments of all kinds on its own account, including the purchase and sale of participations of all kinds, as well as providing related management services. The company may establish branches in Switzerland and abroad, participate in other companies in Switzerland and abroad, acquire or merge with similar or related companies. The company may also acquire, hold, manage, administer, create, develop, encumber, utilize and sell real estate, immovable property and intellectual property rights in Switzerland and abroad, subject to the Licensing Act (BewG). It may also finance other companies. The company may provide direct or indirect financing to its direct or indirect shareholders, as well as to their possible direct or indirect subsidiaries and to its own subsidiaries, and may provide collateral for its own liabilities and those of other companies (including direct or indirect shareholders of the company or companies in which these shareholders are directly or indirectly involved), including by way of pledges, fiduciary transfers or assignments of the company's assets, or guarantees, sureties, or other forms of security. Furthermore, the company may engage in cash pooling with the aforementioned companies, including periodic account balancing, with or without consideration, on preferential terms, without interest, excluding the company's profit motive, and assuming cluster risks. The company may engage in all commercial, financial and other activities that appear to promote the company's purpose or are related thereto.