What's the word for a party to whom a business proposal is made?

Solution 1:

Suitor and solicited. The one who makes the proposal may be termed the Suitor:

• Business suitor
• Financial suitor
• Investment suitor

The verbs of the action of the suitor either preceding or following the proposal could be termed court, woo, solicit.

Therefore, we could use the term solicited party, e.g. solicited company.

Acting on the merger proposal, both the suitor and solicited corporations have met to draw the list of possible positions which would be declared redundant.

Proposer and proposed-party.

Both the proposing and proposed companies of the joint-marketing campaign celebrated their deal with much fanfare and publicity.

Offeror and offeree - in the case where the proposal was made as an offer or to obtain an offer.

The young entrepreneurs (offeree, proposer) made a proposal to the investment bank (solicited offeror), who would offer them a some funds.

The investment bank (offeror, proposer) made a proposal to the start-up company (solicited offeree) offering to invest in that company.