The purpose of the company is to acquire and manage domestic and foreign participations in the sense of a holding company, as well as to assume management, control and coordination functions. The company may participate in other companies, acquire, exploit, manage and sell real estate and intellectual property rights, establish subsidiaries and branches in Switzerland and abroad, and perform all legal acts that may be connected with the purpose of the company or that are suitable to promote 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, and companies in which such parties are directly or indirectly involved, whether through loans or other financing, including within the framework of cash pooling agreements, and provide security of any kind for their liabilities, including by way of pledges on or fiduciary transfers of the company's assets or guarantees of any kind, whether against payment or not.