Federal Holding and Investment Company (Federale Participatie- en Investeringsmaatschappij / Société Fédérale de Participations et d'Investissement) was created on 1 November 2006 as a result of the merger between the Federal Participation Company and the Federal Investment Company, two public holding companies that each have their own history. The federal government is the sole shareholder in the Federal Holding and Investment Company. The Federal Holding and Investment Company (FHIC) centrally manages the federal government's shareholdings, cooperates with the government on specific projects and pursues its own investment policy in the interests of the Belgian economy. The FHIC has three core businesses: - acquiring shareholdings in public and private companies that are of strategic importance in terms of federal policy; - investing in companies with an attractive social value in one of the FHIC's priority sectors; - cooperating on policy matters with the federal government and working on behalf of the government to implement specific projects.