The purpose of the company is the acquisition, management and disposal of participations. The company may acquire, develop, encumber, sell and manage licenses, patents and other intangible assets as well as real estate, and conduct all business that is directly or indirectly related to its purpose. The company may engage in investment and lending transactions of any kind, as well as enter into guarantees, it may provide direct or indirect financing to group companies or third parties, including its direct or indirect shareholders and their or its direct or indirect subsidiaries, and provide collateral of any kind for liabilities of such other 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. Furthermore, it may operate a liquidity adjustment / concentration of net liquidity (cash pooling) with the aforementioned companies or join such a system, including periodic account settlement (zero balancing), also under preferential conditions without interest, excluding the company's profit motive and assuming cluster risks. The company may establish branches and subsidiaries in Switzerland and abroad.