Aston Martin has called for an emergency meeting with potential investors Geely and Lawrence Stroll, and the British luxury automaker is expected to announce its final decision within the next few days, according to a report by the Financial Times.

It’s understood that the offer on the table is around £200 million (RM1.07 billion) for a 20% stake in Aston Martin. So far, both Geely and Stroll have declined to comment on the matter. Aston Martin first went public in 2018, with a valuation of around £4.5 billion (RM24 billion). Today, its share price has fallen by around 80% from that point, mostly due to slowing sales and unexpectedly low profit levels.

As for the investors, both Geely and Stroll have quite the portfolio. Geely owns Lotus and Volvo, a part-owner of Smart and Proton, and a significant shareholder in Daimler. Its interest to invest in Aston Martin is said to be due to the potential of sharing parts with Lotus, while recent reports have tied Geely to a separate shareholding talks with the Mercedes F1 Team.

Lawrence Stroll, on the other hand, is a billionaire with a net worth in excess of £2 billion (RM10.7 billion). He is the father of F1 driver Lance Stroll and owner of Racing Point F1 Team, and has made his money by investing and building brands which include Pierre Cardin, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Asprey.

He is also known for his car collection, one which many regard as the most valuable collection of classic Ferraris in the world. His business interest and car collection reportedly gave him the contacts to head a consortium looking to take control of Aston Martin, with the belief that the DBX SUV will provide the firm with some much-needed recovery in the future. Approximately 1,800 orders for the DBX have been made, it’s been confirmed, but deliveries don’t begin until mid this year.