Can I use two separate corporations to buy different parts of the same business?

Yes, this is a workable and fairly common approach, particularly where different parts of the business call for different financing, tax treatment, or liability isolation. One of your corporations might purchase shares of the operating entity while a second, separate corporation purchases real estate or another discrete piece as its own asset transaction, keeping each acquisition and its risks contained to its own corporate box.

The nuance is coordination. Using two buying entities generally means two sets of purchase documents, potentially different lenders or financing arrangements for each, and — critically — closing conditions that tie the two transactions together so one doesn't complete without the other, unless that's genuinely your intention. Without careful cross-conditioning, you can end up owning half of what you meant to buy if one leg of the deal falls through at the last minute.

Because using two corporations adds real coordination complexity on top of an already multi-part deal, it's worth having a business lawyer structure both purchase agreements together from the start, rather than treating them as two unrelated transactions that happen to close around the same time.