Read the general investor planning overview
Hypothetical example: a propane and fuel distribution depot abroad is for sale and a buyer here wants to use it as the basis for a treaty investment. The route requires money committed beyond recall and exposed to loss, so exposure is unavoidable. What is avoidable is exposure before diligence. Staging the transaction with documented dates gives the route what it needs while keeping the buyer informed at each step. Hypothetical example: a vintage-audio repair business is being acquired with a deposit, an equipment order, and a lease guarantee. The buyer must decide which obligation can become nonrefundable only after the seller provides financial and licence records. Write that decision into the deal documents; a sensible sequence makes the investment evidence clearer without asking the buyer to ignore genuine commercial risk.
Map every payment to the date it becomes binding
Work through the transaction with the lawyer and write down, for each element, the moment the money can no longer come back: the release of a deposit, the point an agreement becomes unconditional, payment for tanks or delivery equipment ordered to specification, and the date a site lease creates enforceable liability. That schedule is both a risk-management tool and, later, the evidence itself. Funds sitting in an account earmarked for the purchase are not committed however settled the intention, and a schedule makes that distinction visible to everyone involved, including a lender or a partner who may otherwise assume the deal is already done. For every payment, keep the contract clause that explains when it can be released. That clause, alongside the bank record, settles whether the money remains protected or is genuinely exposed.
Put the deal-ending questions before the first release
For a fuel distribution business the questions that can end a purchase are specific and answerable: environmental obligations attaching to tank sites, the condition and certification of equipment, licensing and regulatory requirements for handling and transporting fuel locally, supply arrangements and whether they survive a change of owner, and what the filed accounts show across several years. Each of these should be resolved while the buyer's money is still their own. Diligence completed after a deposit has been released is diligence paid for twice, once in fees and once in exposure. Name a document and deadline for each diligence point. The buyer then knows which unanswered item justifies delaying a release of funds.
Check substantiality and marginality against real numbers
The investment is weighed in proportion to what this particular enterprise costs to acquire, so build an honest cost base including equipment, environmental compliance, insurance and the working capital a seasonal delivery business needs. Separately, the enterprise must be real, operating and more than marginal, with the present or near-future capacity to produce more than a minimal living, generally through employment or demonstrable earnings. A purchase that leaves nothing for the first year of trading weakens that answer, and the time to discover it is while the numbers are still on paper. The decisive forecast includes working capital after closing. If it shows no practical room to operate, reconsider the deal before using the numbers to support an application.
What else is on your mind?
Is there one minimum investment that guarantees E-2 eligibility?Is holding money or owning an asset enough for E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.