Corporate Balance Sheet Investor

A Corporate Balance Sheet Investor invests using a corporation’s own capital rather than dedicated third-party pools. This capital can be strategic (aligned to business goals) or financial (treasury-driven). The key diligence point is that these are often two different buyers with different mandates, timelines, and decision rules.

Corporate capital can be large and decisive, but it can also change quickly with leadership transitions, earnings volatility, M&A activity, or revised capital allocation priorities (buybacks, debt paydown, capex).

Strategic vs financial corporate capital

• Strategic capital (often through CVC/corp dev): seeks adjacency, ecosystem leverage, optionality, or control benefits
• Financial/treasury capital: seeks yield, liquidity, capital preservation, and governance defensibility

OSINT signals

• Earnings calls referencing “capital allocation priorities”
• Cash balance expansion/contraction, debt issuance, buyback programs
• CVC leadership changes and new thematic initiatives
• M&A pipeline shifts and strategic roadmap changes

What slows decisions

• Unclear internal ownership (CFO vs CVC vs CEO vs corp dev)
• Legal/compliance constraints around conflicts and information rights
• Shifting priorities mid-process (corporate cycle risk)
• Mandate ambiguity (“strategic” with no defined objective)

Key diligence questions for GPs

• Is this strategic or treasury capital, and what does success mean?
• Who owns the decision and who has veto power?
• What is the internal hurdle rate and holding period expectation?
• What are liquidity requirements and downside constraints?
• How do you behave when corporate priorities shift mid-year?