Report: Geely Agrees to Buy Carmaker Proton

China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. is expected to announce on Wednesday it has agreed to buy 49% of struggling Malaysian carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd.

Geely, which also owns British sports car company Group Lotus plc and Sweden’s Volvo Car Corp., will announce the deal on Wednesday, sources tell Reuters.

PSA Group had emerged in March as the likely buyer after Geely threatened to drop out of the bidding. Geely complained that it couldn’t pin down Proton on terms.

Proton was created as a state-owned manufacturer in 1983 and acquired in 2012 by Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom Bhd. The carmaker once controlled more than half the country’s car market. But it has been in decline for more than a decade as cheaper and better-made cars from Japan flooded into the market.

Last year Proton received a 1.5 billion-ringgit ($337 million) bailout from the Malaysian government with the stipulation that it develop a sustainable business plan and find a foreign partner by this summer. The carmaker owns two assembly plants whose output has been well below their combined annual capacity of 400,000 vehicles.