Merck KGaA operates in three main segments: life sciences, performance materials, and healthcare. The life sciences segment (44% of 2023 sales) primarily provides laboratory consumables and services to researchers in academia and applied fields, including the biopharmaceutical industry. In the healthcare segment (38%), Merck develops, manufactures, and sells branded pharmaceuticals with significant therapeutic concentrations in oncology, multiple sclerosis, and fertility. In its electronics segment (17%), the company offers specialty materials to manufacture a variety of products, such as semiconductors, flat-screen televisions, automobiles, and cosmetics. In 1995, the E. Merck KG family publicly sold part of the company, resulting in the current 30% public ownership of the firm.

Sandvik is a manufacturer of specialized tools and mining equipment used predominantly by global mining, engineering, and automotive customers. The company’s core operations are in metal cutting and mining equipment. The company has a well-documented history, having been founded in 1862 and listed on the Nordic Exchange in Stockholm in 1901.

Julius Baer was founded in 1890 and expanded significantly in 2005 when it acquired three Swiss private banks and Global Asset Management, or GAM, from its far larger Swiss rival, UBS. In 2009 Baer spun off GAM as a separately listed firm. The acquisition of Merril Lynch's wealth management operations outside of the U.S. in 2012 increased Baer's assets under management by 40% and increased its footprint outside of Europe. Julius Baer is currently the largest pure-play private bank in Switzerland and the third-largest Swiss private bank. Baer provides private banking services principally to individuals in Switzerland and Europe and increasingly in Asia and other emerging markets.