From 1881 until merging with Schneider & Cie in 1969, the companies engaged in a broad range of activities including tramways, railways, electricity generation, construction and mining.

The main areas of activity were Belgium and France, but the group also pursued opportunities in Russia, Egypt, China and elsewhere, and played a large role in the development of the eastern Belgian Congo.

[1] Édouard graduated from high school in 1872 and obtained a job with the Société métallurgique et charbonnière belge.

[7] In the period from 1889 to 1893 the Empain group set up businesses in Argentina, Venezuela, the Netherlands and the Ottoman Empire.

[7] The first line was along the Meuse between Liège and Jemeppe, operated by a subsidiary of the Compagnie Générale des Tramways à Voie Étroite.

After the Belgian state created the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Vicinaux, Empain made most of his investments in the French market.

[11] Empain's enterprises involved various holding companies, which were open to outside investors:[9] In January 1900 the Empain group founded a financial company in Paris, the Société parisienne pour l'industries des chemins de fer at tramways électriques (SPIE).

After World War II (1939–1945) France nationalized all the electricity companies, including SERVA, SEP, EGN and SNE.

The creation of SPIE Batignolles gave Empain a larger public works division than Schneider.

In 1913 Baron Empain obtained the listing on the Paris Bourse of 60,000 shares of the Chemins de Fer Réunis.

[10] After the 1911 Revolution in China the Empain group obtained a concession to extend the Pienlo railway as part of a 1,800 kilometres (1,100 mi) line to link Lanzhou to the sea.

[24] In 1902 Empain founded the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Congo Supérieur aux Grands Lacs Africains (CFL) with a capital of 25 million francs.

[25] The Compagnie Minière des Grands-Lacs (MGL), a mining subsidiary of the CFL, was established in what was now the Belgian Congo in 1923.

It was involved in transport infrastructure, public buildings, hospitals, schools, geology, agriculture, forestry among other responsibilities.

[27] In October 1985 the London Metal Exchange recorded the largest crash in tin prices in its history.