The company's purpose is to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of participations in companies of any kind in Switzerland and abroad, as well as to engage in activities in the financial and investment sectors. The company may establish branches in Switzerland and abroad, participate in other companies of any kind, take over representations and enter into any business and conclude contracts that may be suitable to promote the purpose of the company, or that are directly or indirectly related to it. It may acquire, lease, rent, encumber and dispose of real estate in Switzerland and abroad (in Switzerland, excluding transactions subject to the Federal Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Persons Abroad). The company may provide financing for its own account or for the account of third parties. It may grant direct or indirect financing to third parties or companies in which it has a direct or indirect interest, as well as to direct or indirect shareholders or companies in which such shareholders have a direct or indirect interest, whether through loans and/or other financing, including within the framework of cash pooling agreements. The company may provide any type of security for its own liabilities or the liabilities of the aforementioned persons, including through pledges, assignments, fiduciary transfers, guarantees of any kind or through offset obligations, whether for consideration or not, even if such financing, security or guarantees are in the exclusive interest of third parties or companies in which it has a direct or indirect interest, or of direct or indirect shareholders or companies in which such shareholders have a direct or indirect interest. The company may acquire, hold, manage or sell any type of debt or securities, within Switzerland or abroad.