A holding company is formed in order to buy the stocks and shares of other companies. This is designed to safeguard the stocks and shares of the businesses and to generate revenue of the holding company. The holding company can also take control of other assets such as patents and trademarks.

Swiss holding companies come in different forms, across lots of different industries. Each type of holding company will buy stocks and shares of companies within the same field. A larger company will attempt to buy the assets of smaller companies on a regular basis.

Banking

The banking sector has many large banks which act as holding companies for the stock of smaller banks. This makes the smaller banks much more stable and will generate lots of revenue for the larger banks, allowing them to expand their influence in the industry.

During the financial crisis of 2008, lots of larger banks turned themselves into holding companies so that they could buy up the stocks and shares of the smaller banks which were failing or about to go out of business.

This ensured that smaller banks were able to stay afloat because their assets were completely protected. This meant that their customers would not lose their money.

Utility Companies

Large utility companies which are the main electricity or water providers will often buy up the stocks and shares of smaller companies that are competing in the same field. Smaller utility companies will often merge with the larger ones once their assets have been purchased by their larger rivals.

Broadcasting Companies

Broadcasting companies seek to grow by taking control of the assets of their smaller rivals. This is standard practice in the industry and has allowed broadcasting companies across the globe to expand their influence to a multinational level.

Patent Holding Companies

Some Swiss holding companies operate purely to acquire the patents for products of other companies. This helps to secure the patent of the person or company which has created the original product.

Parent Company

A parent company differs slightly from a traditional holding company. The parent company buys enough stock in a smaller firm so that it has a controlling stake. The parent company is then able to exercise influence over the smaller company by influencing management decisions and vetoing certain actions of the smaller company. Eventually, the parent company might decide to buy-out the smaller company by taking control of all the stocks and shares.

Conglomerate

A conglomerate refers to a combination of two or more companies which are in entirely different sectors. This is often because the larger company controlling the conglomerate wants to diversify into different areas of business and cannot do it entirely on its own.

There are many different types of holding company, and they operate in a similar way across all the different types of industry. Parent companies are a slightly different form of holding company because they have an active say in the running of the smaller businesses.