The company's purpose is to acquire, manage and dispose of participations in companies and intellectual property rights in the chemical sector. The company may conduct financial transactions and participate in other companies of any kind, establish, acquire and merge with them. The company is authorized to acquire, encumber, manage and sell real estate and intellectual property rights in Switzerland and abroad. The company may also conclude all transactions and enter into agreements that directly or indirectly serve the company's purpose or are directly related to it. The company may grant loans and other financings to its direct and indirect parent companies as well as their and its direct and indirect subsidiaries and provide securities of all kinds for liabilities of such companies, including by way of pledges on or fiduciary transfers of the company's assets or guarantees of any kind, whether against payment or not.