Gastess' Finance, Inc. existed as a holding company during the Imperial era, conducting business in the Parmic sector of the Outer Rim Territories. Sarlim Gastess, a Gotal lacking the typical Gotal ability to sense emotions with his head cones (making him, by Gotal standards, a ruthless psychopath), was in charge.
The business model of Gastess' Finance involved aggressively acquiring smaller companies, removing the existing leadership, and exploiting the acquired companies for immediate financial gain in credits. Gastess would dispatch executives from his own organization to plunder the assets of the newly acquired entity. Halleb, K'yne, and Sarell Harmion, three brothers who shared their boss's enthusiasm for dismantling and pillaging successful businesses, served as his primary subordinates.
Once Gastess' Finance had extracted all possible short-term profits, the company would be divested. If a buyer couldn't be located, the company was simply dissolved, and its assets were sold off. Eventually, even corporations that spanned entire planets became targets for Gastess' Finance. After Gastess had finished with a planetary corporation, the planet's inhabitants, once dependent on it, found themselves unemployed and deeply in debt. This made them susceptible to exploitation or even slavery by the Empire, which likely explains why the Empire tacitly supported Gastess' operations.
Initially operating in the Outer Rim Territories, they eventually broadened their reach to more centrally located regions. COMPNOR engaged them as consultants for the financial "reconstruction" of Ralltiir.
The Alliance to Restore the Republic regarded Gastess' Finance as a key contributor to the Empire's supply of forced labor. Consequently, Rebel privateers designated starships and other holdings of Gastess' Finance as targets.