As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 3, 2010

 

Registration No. 333-170238

 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

 

 

 

 

AMENDMENT NO. 1
TO

Form F-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

 

 

 

New Century Hotel Office Tower, 6/F
No. 6 South Capital Stadium Road
Beijing, 100044
The People’s Republic of China
(86-10) 6849-2345

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

Law Debenture Corporate Services Inc.
400 Madison Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, New York 10017
(212) 750-6474

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:   as soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

 

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.   o

 

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.   o

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.   o

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.   o

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or in any related free-writing prospectus that we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with information that is different from that contained in this prospectus or in any other filed free-writing prospectus. We are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, the ADSs only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. Unless otherwise indicated, the information in this prospectus may only be accurate as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of its delivery or of any sale of the ADSs.

 

We have not taken any action to permit a public offering of the ADSs outside the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about and observe any restrictions relating to the offering of the ADSs and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States.

 

Until          , 2010 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that effect transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as an underwriter and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.

Conventions That Apply to This Prospectus

 

Unless we indicate otherwise, all information in this prospectus assumes no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to 1,590,000 additional ADSs representing 1,590,000 ordinary shares from us.

 

Unless the context indicates otherwise, all share and per share data in this prospectus give retrospective effect to a 1-to-2.5 share split that became effective on October 28, 2010.

 

Except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this prospectus only:

 

 

 

 

 

Our financial statements are expressed in Renminbi, which is our presentation currency. Certain of our financial data in this prospectus are translated into U.S. dollars solely for your convenience. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars in this prospectus were made at a rate of RMB6.6905 to $1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on September 30, 2010. We make no representation that any Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate, at the rate stated above, or at all. For more information, see “Exchange Rates” on page 49 of the prospectus.

 

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

	•	broadest consumer reach;
	•	comprehensive automotive content and database;
	•	proprietary online marketing platforms;

	•	nationwide dealer customer base;
	•	diverse automaker customer base; and
	•	seasoned management team with extensive industry knowledge and proven execution capabilities.

	•	broaden our service offerings and enhance our service capabilities;
	•	capitalize on the fast growing used automobile market;
	•	promote our brand image to increase our consumer and industry influence;
	•	expand our customer base and deepen market penetration;
	•	strengthen and expand our network of partner websites; and
	•	selectively pursue strategic acquisitions and joint ventures.

	•	implement our business model and strategies and adapt and modify them as needed;
	•	maintain and expand our customer base among automakers and automobile dealers and increase our brand recognition in China’s automotive industry;
	•	anticipate the needs of the evolving used automotive industry and offer services that effectively address these needs;
	•	increase our brand recognition among general Internet users;
	•	anticipate and adapt to evolving economic conditions, changes in China’s automotive and Internet marketing industries as well as the impact of significant competitive and market dynamics; and
	•	manage our growth effectively and efficiently.

(1)		Bin Li and Weihai Qu hold 80% and 20% equity interest in CIG, respectively.
(2)		Bin Li and Weihai Qu hold 80% and 20% equity interest in BBIT, respectively.
(3)		Guang Chen, Jinsong Zhu, Shengde Wang, Rong Xiao, Aiping Xu, Xiaodong Hu, Xiangyu Chen and Jun Xia hold 16%, 16%, 16%, 16%, 16%, 8%, 6% and 6% equity interest in BEAM, respectively.
(4)		Beijing Bitauto Interactive Advertising Company Limited is 75% owned by CIG and 25% owned by BBIT.
(5)		Beijing You Jie Information Company Limited is 80% owned by CIG and 20% owned by BBIT.
(6)		You Jie Wei Ye (Beijing) Culture Media Company Limited is 80% owned by CIG and 20% owned by BBIT.
(7)		Beijing BitOne Technology Company Limited is 80% owned by BBIT and 20% owned by CIG.

ADSs offered by us		9,000,000 ADSs.

ADSs offered by the selling shareholders		1,600,000 ADSs.

Offering price		We estimate that the initial public offering price will be between $10.00 and $12.00 per ADS.

ADSs outstanding immediately after this offering		10,600,000 ADSs.

Ordinary shares outstanding immediately after this offering		41,253,390 shares.

The ADSs		Each ADS represents one ordinary share, par value $0.00004 per share. The ADSs may be evidenced by ADRs.

		The depositary will be the holder of the ordinary shares underlying your ADSs and you will have rights as provided in the deposit agreement among us, the depositary and owners and beneficial owners of ADSs from time to time.
		Although we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, if we declare dividends on our ordinary shares, the depositary will pay you the cash dividends and other distributions it receives on our ordinary shares, after deducting its fees and expenses.
		You may turn in your ADSs to the depositary in exchange for ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. The depositary will charge you fees for exchanges.
		We may amend or terminate the deposit agreement without your consent, and if you continue to hold your ADSs, you agree to be bound by the deposit agreement as amended.
		You should carefully read the section in this prospectus entitled “Description of American Depositary Shares” to better understand the terms of the ADSs. You should also read the deposit agreement, which is an exhibit to the registration statement that includes this prospectus.

Listing		We have applied to have the ADSs listed on the NYSE under the symbol “BITA.” The ADSs and shares will not be listed on any other exchange or quoted for trading on any other automated quotation system.

 

Option to purchase additional ADSs		We have granted to the underwriters an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of this prospectus, to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,590,000 additional ADSs.

 

Reserved ADSs		At our request, the underwriters have reserved for sale, at the initial public offering price, up to an aggregate of 730,000 ADSs offered in this offering to some of our directors, officers, employees, business associates and related persons through a directed share program. These reserved ADSs account for an aggregate of approximately 6.9% of the ADSs offered in this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option).

Use of proceeds		Our net proceeds from this offering are expected to be approximately $88.8 million, or approximately $102.6 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs in full, assuming an initial public offering price of $11.00 per ADS, which is the midpoint of the estimated range of the initial public offering price, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us. We will not receive any proceeds from the ADSs sold by the selling shareholders. We anticipate using the proceeds as follows:

		•  approximately $25.0 million of the net proceeds for product development;

		•  approximately $25.0 million of the net proceeds for sales and marketing; and

		•  the balance for general corporate purposes, including working capital, approximately $3.0 million to pay an RMB20 million loan drawn from a revolving line of credit facility at an annual interest rate of 5.31% that will mature on April 29, 2011, and potential acquisitions, although we have not identified any potential acquisition targets at this time.

Depositary		Citibank, N.A.
Risk factors		See “Risk Factors” and other information included in this prospectus for a discussion of risks you should carefully consider before investing in the ADSs.

 

Lock-up		We, our directors, executive officers and all of our shareholders have agreed with the underwriters not to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of our ordinary shares or ADSs representing our ordinary shares for 180 days after the date of this prospectus. See “Underwriting.”

	•	assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional ADSs;

	•	assumes the conversion of all outstanding preference shares into 19,760,340 ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of this offering; and

	•	excludes 2,178,750 ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of options outstanding as of September 30, 2010 under our 2006 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2006 Plan, and our 2010 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2010 Plan, at a weighted average exercise price of approximately $3.08 per share.

 

SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

Consolidated Statements		For the Year Ended December 31,																For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
of Comprehensive Income Data		2007				2008				2009								2009				2010
										RMB				$				RMB				RMB				$
		RMB				RMB
		(In thousands)
Continuing Operations
Revenue			127,699				238,978				293,313				43,840				195,684				299,252				44,728
Cost of revenue			(44,502	)			(74,224	)			(105,746	)			(15,805	)			(67,712	)			(98,241	)			(14,684	)
Gross profit			83,197				164,754				187,567				28,035				127,972				201,011				30,044
Selling and administrative expenses (1)			(67,589	)			(99,951	)			(125,268	)			(18,723	)			(85,772	)			(145,368	)			(21,728	)
Product development expenses			(4,644	)			(14,437	)			(17,090	)			(2,554	)			(11,491	)			(20,976	)			(3,135	)
Operating profit			10,964				50,366				45,209				6,758				30,709				34,667				5,181
Other income			1,933				4,180				595				89				550				1,686				252
Other expenses			(43	)			(1,267	)			(1,168	)			(175	)			(934	)			(943	)			(141	)
Changes in fair value of derivative component of convertible preference shares			(155,202	)			50,295				(33,305	)			(4,978	)			(9,769	)			(806,934	)			(120,609	)
Changes in fair value of convertible promissory notes			—				(8,709	)			680				102				680				—				—
Interest income			743				636				373				56				309				404				60
Interest expense			—				—				—				—				—				(457	)			(68	)
Finance costs on convertible preference shares			(4,252	)			(10,748	)			(14,917	)			(2,230	)			(12,502	)			(8,037	)			(1,201	)
(Loss)/profit before tax from continuing operations			(145,857	)			84,753				(2,533	)			(378	)			9,043				(779,614	)			(116,526	)
Income tax expense			(127	)			(439	)			(3,503	)			(524	)			(2,480	)			(7,245	)			(1,083	)
(Loss)/profit from continuing operations			(145,984	)			84,314				(6,036	)			(902	)			6,563				(786,859	)			(117,609	)
(Loss)/profit for the year (2)			(174,416	)			36,416				(60,348	)			(9,020	)			(20,148	)			(838,169	)			(125,277	)
Total comprehensive (loss)/income (3)			(164,395	)			54,742				(60,150	)			(8,990	)			(19,994	)			(822,702	)			(122,966	)
(Loss)/profit per share from continuing operations attributable to ordinary shareholders
Basic			(6.86	)			3.16				(0.21	)			(0.03	)			0.23				(24.45	)			(3.65	)
Diluted			(6.86	)			1.64				(0.21	)			(0.03	)			0.15				(24.45	)			(3.65	)

Consolidated Statements		For the Year Ended December 31,																For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
of Comprehensive Income Data		2007				2008				2009								2009				2010
										RMB				$				RMB				RMB				$
		RMB				RMB
		(In thousands)
(Loss)/profit per share attributable to ordinary shareholders
Basic			(8.21	)			1.41				(2.07	)			(0.31	)			(0.72	)			(26.04	)			(3.89	)
Diluted			(8.21	)			0.87				(2.07	)			(0.31	)			(0.72	)			(26.04	)			(3.89	)
Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding used in (loss)/profit per share calculation
Basic			10,633,323				12,048,856				12,123,008				—				12,048,856				12,424,369				—
Diluted			10,633,323				27,282,710				12,123,008				—				13,849,130				12,424,369				—
Other Financial Data:
Non-GAAP profit from continuing operations (4)			15,613				54,270				41,798				6,248				28,373				33,425				4,996

(1)		Including share-based payments of RMB2.1 million, RMB0.8 million, RMB0.3 million, RMB0.2 million and RMB5.3 million in 2007, 2008, 2009 and the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2010, respectively.
(2)		Including (loss)/profit for the year from continuing operations and loss after tax for the year from discontinued operations.
(3)		Including (loss)/profit for the year and foreign currency exchange difference.
(4)		Our management supplements the data they receive regarding IFRS (loss)/profit from continuing operations with non-GAAP profit from continuing operations, which excludes from IFRS (loss)/profit from continuing operations the charges relating to (i) changes in fair value of the derivative component of our convertible preference shares, (ii) changes in fair value of our convertible promissory notes, (iii) finance costs relating to our preference shares, and (iv) share-based payments. This non-GAAP financial measure provides our management with the ability to assess our operating results without considering the charges resulting from our convertible preference shares being characterized as liabilities under IFRS. In addition, our convertible preference shares will be automatically converted into ordinary shares upon the completion of this offering and, as a result, there will be no such charges relating to our convertible preference shares after the conversion other than in the quarter in which the conversion occurs. Furthermore, this non-GAAP financial measure eliminates the impact of items that we do not consider indicative of the performance of our business. We believe investors will similarly use such non-GAAP financial measure as one of the key metrics to evaluate our operating performance and compare our current operating results with historical and future periods and with other comparable companies.
		The use of non-GAAP profit from continuing operations has certain limitations. Although we believe the excluded items are less meaningful in evaluating our current performance, the excluded items may be important in assessing our operating and financial performance if we grant options and issue preference shares or other financial instruments, such as warrants and convertible bonds, in the future. If any of these events occur, the impact of these items likewise will not be reflected in the presentation of the non-GAAP profit from continuing operations. This non-GAAP financial measure should be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with IFRS, and should not be considered a substitute for or superior to IFRS results. In addition, our non-GAAP profit from continuing operations may not be comparable to similarly titled measures utilized by other companies since such other companies may not calculate such measures in the same manner as we do.
		The following table sets forth the reconciliation of our non-GAAP profit from continuing operations to IFRS (loss)/profit from continuing operations, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS:

		For the Year Ended																For the Nine Months Ended
		December 31,																September 30,
		2007				2008				2009								2009				2010
										RMB				$				RMB				RMB				$
		RMB				RMB				(In thousands)
(Loss)/profit from continuing operations			(145,984	)			84,314				(6,036	)			(902	)			6,563				(786,859	)			(117,609	)
Changes in fair value of derivative component of convertible preference shares			155,202				(50,295	)			33,305				4,978				9,769				806,934				120,609
Changes in fair value of convertible promissory notes			—				8,709				(680	)			(102	)			(680	)			—				—
Finance costs on convertible preference shares			4,252				10,748				14,917				2,230				12,502				8,037				1,201
Share-based payments			2,143				794				292				44				219				5,313				795
Non-GAAP profit from continuing operations			15,613				54,270				41,798				6,248				28,373				33,425				4,996

		As of December 31,												As of September 30,
Consolidated Statements of		2008				2009								2010
Financial Position Data		Actual				Actual								Actual								Pro Forma (1)
														RMB				$				RMB				$
		RMB				RMB				$
		(In thousands)
Assets
Current assets			276,312				429,761				64,235				437,960				65,460				437,960				65,460
Non-current assets			90,163				103,105				15,411				36,682				5,483				36,682				5,483
Total assets			366,475				532,866				79,646				474,642				70,943				474,642				70,943
Liabilities
Current liabilities			154,620				249,735				37,327				320,631				47,924				320,631				47,924
Non-current liabilities:
Convertible preference shares			305,850				473,620				70,790				1,267,120				189,391				—				—
Total non-current liabilities			353,083				477,299				71,340				1,267,120				189,391				—				—
Total liabilities			507,703				727,034				108,667				1,587,751				237,315				320,631				47,924
Total equity/(deficit)			(141,228	)			(194,168	)			(29,021	)			(1,113,109	)			(166,372	)			154,011				23,019
Total liabilities and equity			366,475				532,866				79,646				474,642				70,943				474,642				70,943

(1)		Pro forma basis reflects the conversion of all outstanding preference shares on a 1-for-1 basis into an aggregate of 19,760,340 ordinary shares upon the completion of this offering.

 

Investing in our ADSs involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the information in this prospectus, including the risks and uncertainties described below, before making an investment in our ADSs. Any of the following risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations. In any such case, the market price of our ADSs could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

 

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

 

Our future growth depends on the increased acceptance of the Internet as an effective marketing platform by the automotive industry and the increased Internet penetration among the general population in China.

 

We generate a significant portion of our revenues from providing Internet marketing services to automakers and automobile dealers. However, Internet marketing has not yet been widely accepted as an effective marketing platform by China’s automotive industry. In 2009, automakers only spent 7.4% of their marketing budgets for online advertising, according to iResearch. Many of our current or potential customers have not traditionally devoted a significant portion of their advertising or marketing budgets to web-based media. They may have limited experience with the Internet as an advertising and marketing medium and therefore may not find the Internet to be effective for promoting their automobiles and related services. Some automakers and dealers may still prefer traditional print and broadcast media and may not be willing to spend a significant portion of their marketing budgets on online advertising. In addition, development of web software that blocks Internet advertisements before they appear on a user’s screen may hinder the growth of Internet marketing. Our customers may choose not to use Internet marketing services if their advertisements cannot reach the intended population due to this kind of software. Any negative perceptions as to the effectiveness of Internet marketing services may limit the growth of our business and adversely affect our results of operations. If the Internet does not become more widely accepted as a media platform for advertising and marketing, our business, financial position and results of operations could be materially and negatively affected.

 

Internet usage in China is limited among the general population. China has a relatively low penetration rate compared to most developed countries. In 2009, China’s Internet penetration rate was 28.7%, much lower than 74.1% in the United States, according to iResearch. The relatively high cost of Internet access may limit the increase in Internet penetration rate in China. The relatively underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructure and capacity constraints may further impede the development of the Internet to the extent that users experience delays, transmission errors and other difficulties. In addition, China has only recently developed the Internet as a commercial medium and as a result, our Internet marketing business is subject to many uncertainties, which could materially and adversely affect our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our dealer service delivery model is relatively new in China, and if we cannot attract enough dealers to subscribe to such service, we may not be able to sustain our revenue growth and operating profit.

 

With respect to our dealer customers, the manner in which we deliver our services is relatively new in China. Our Easypass platform, designed for new automobile dealers, is based on a service distribution model through which we deliver a package of software applications over the Internet to the subscribers of our new automobile dealer services. Used automobile dealers may list their automobiles in our database and have the option to publish their listings on our ucar.cn website and our partner websites through our Transtar platform, which is similar to our Easypass platform but is focused on used car listings. These platforms are Internet-based and offer a package of software applications that enable our dealer customers to create their own websites, publish automobile pricing and other promotional information and communicate with interested buyers. This differs from the traditional licensing arrangements for software applications. Furthermore, Easypass and Transtar platforms enable our dealer customers to publish their automobile listing and promotional information simultaneously on our websites and our partner websites. We typically pay a fixed fee to our partner websites for space on their websites in order to extend our automotive content’s reach and to attract dealers to subscribe to our Easypass and Transtar services. If our service delivery model for dealers cannot gain sufficient market acceptance, we may not be able to sustain our revenue growth and operating profit.

Failure to enhance our brand recognition could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and growth prospects.

 

While our brands have garnered recognition among automotive industry experts and participants, our bitauto.com and ucar.cn brands may not be widely recognized among general consumers and Internet users. In the past, while we had participated in trade shows and other branding events, we had not placed as significant a focus on marketing our brand names to general Internet users. We believe the importance of brand recognition will increase as the number of Internet users in China grows. If we fail to enhance our brand recognition among general Internet users, we may be less effective in attracting new advertising business to our own websites. Furthermore, for our websites to be successful, we need to attract visitors to our websites on a regular basis by providing automobile and other relevant information. We may need to offer news, reports, reviews and specifications on substantially all automobile models available in China even though the manufacturers of some automobiles do not use any of our Internet marketing services. If such free offerings fail to attract enough visitors to our websites, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenues to pay for these offerings, which could materially and adversely affect our financial position and results of operations.

 

We also need to continue to enhance our brand awareness among automobile dealers and automakers in order to build on our position as a leading automobile Internet marketing service provider. While we have a large network of dealer customers and can reach a broad consumer base by partnering with other portals, listings by our dealer customers are placed on our partner websites in addition to our own websites. Our partner websites that distribute our dealers’ listing information may not always quote our names on their websites, and as a result, we may not achieve greater visibility among Internet users. This could increase our reliance on our partner websites.

 

We intend to enhance our brand recognition among Internet users and gradually establish our identity independent of our partner websites by expending significant time and resources. However, we may not be able to achieve our goals in a short period of time, or our branding efforts may not achieve our expected results. This could significantly limit our business prospects and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

A limited number of automakers have contributed to a significant portion of our revenues, and if we are unable to maintain these key relationships or establish new relationships with additional automakers, our results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

 

In the past, a limited number of automakers have contributed a significant portion of our revenues, primarily in the form of service fees for our digital marketing solutions and advertising fees for advertisement placements on our bitauto.com and ucar.cn websites. Revenue concentration is primarily a factor for our digital marketing solutions business due to the relatively small number of automaker customers for this business segment and the large size of their contracts with us. In 2007, 2008, 2009 and the first nine months of 2010, revenues from the top three customers in each period accounted for approximately 32.7%, 28.3%, 28.9% and 24.9%, respectively, of our total revenues from continuing operations. In particular, our largest customer, FAW Mazda Motor Sales Co., Ltd., or FAW Mazda, a China-based joint venture automaker, accounted for 22.1%, 20.8%, 21.4% and 17.4%, of our total revenues from continuing operations in 2007, 2008, 2009 and the first nine months of 2010, respectively. In addition, we generate revenue indirectly from these top customers in the form of performance-based rebates. When we place advertisements on behalf of our automaker customers, we typically receive performance-based rebates from media vendors calculated as a percentage of qualifying payments for the advertising space purchased and utilized by our automaker customers. See “— Risks Related to Our Business and Industry — We may not be able to continue to collect performance-based rebates for the advertisements we place on other websites, which is an important source of revenues for us.”

 

Our top three customers vary from year to year, but FAW Mazda has remained our largest customer in the past three years. We anticipate that a small number of automakers, especially FAW Mazda, will continue to contribute to a significant percentage of our revenues in the foreseeable future. However, there is no assurance that our relationships with any of our existing automaker customers will continue in the future, or we could receive any minimum level of revenues from them. If we lose one or more of our important automaker customers, or if they materially reduce their purchase of our services, our results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

We may not be able to continue to collect performance-based rebates for the advertisements we place on other websites, which is an important source of revenues for us.

 

An important part of our digital marketing solutions business is to place advertisements on other websites on behalf of our automaker customers. Such media vendor websites often offer incentives in the form of performance-based rebates equal to a percentage of qualifying payments for advertising space purchased and utilized by our customers. Performance-based rebates are an important source of our revenues. In 2009, income from performance-based rebates accounted for 20.8% of our total revenues from continuing operations. Nonetheless, our ability to collect rebates from a media vendor website is contingent upon the total value of advertisements we place on such websites during a set time period and whether such value reaches the pre-determined thresholds. If we fail to reach the set threshold, we may not be able to continue to collect performance-based rebates at our expected levels, if at all. Some major portals also require us to post a performance security deposit, which is usually 5% to 10% of the minimum value of advertisements we agree to place on such portals in a year or half a year. In this scenario, if we fail to reach the set minimum, we would lose not only part or all of the rebates, but also our performance security deposit. Some websites, in particular those with a large visitor base, may set the thresholds high or raise them from time to time and we may not be able to negotiate the rebate percentages or the threshold levels. Furthermore, media vendor websites may reduce the percentage of rebates or may not offer them at all. Our income from performance-based rebates may decrease or disappear, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our strategy to grow our used automobile-related business through our ucar.cn business may not succeed.

 

One of our growth strategies is to continue investing in our used automobile business through our ucar.cn website, which is currently a relatively small portion of our operations and for which we incurred a gross loss of RMB4.5 million in 2009 and a gross loss of RMB9.2 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2010 primarily due to increases in cost of revenues. In the past few years, automobile purchases by general consumers have experienced rapid growth in China. Automobiles are becoming more affordable to a broader group of consumers at different income levels. Many people have purchased or plan to purchase cars for the first time. We believe a market for used automobiles will gradually develop as the number of consumer-owned automobiles increases. However, the development of a used automobile market in China is subject to a high level of uncertainty and we cannot predict how the market will develop, if at all, in the future. Even if a used automobile market does develop, we cannot predict whether there will be a similar market on the Internet and whether our ucar.cn website will be poised to capture any of the growth. Our investment in the used automobile business may not prove profitable if the online market for used automobile information fails to develop or develops at a slower rate than expected, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

We are facing increased competition, and if we cannot compete effectively, our financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

 

Our bitauto.com business faces competition from many market participants. With respect to our new automobile advertising services, we face competition from China’s automotive vertical websites, such as pcauto.com.cn and autohome.com.cn , as well as the automotive channels of major portals and traditional forms of media. Although we believe the rapid increase in China’s online population will draw more attention away from traditional forms of media, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines, we still compete with them for clients and advertising revenues. Competition with portals and automotive vertical websites is primarily centered on website traffic and brand recognition among general Internet users, spending by automakers and automobile dealers, and customer retention and acquisition. In addition, because the entry barrier for the Internet advertising business is relatively low, new competitors may be able to launch competitive services at relatively low costs and may acquire significant market share. Some competitors of our new automobile advertising services have greater financial and other resources than we do and may in the future achieve greater market acceptance and gain a greater market share. With respect to our new automobile dealer subscription services, we face competition from autohome.com.cn and pcauto.com.cn in terms of automobile inventory, timeliness and accuracy of automobile pricing information and website traffic. We believe our large dealer customer base and innovative Easypass

automobile listing platform have put us at an advantageous position over our competitors, but we cannot assure you whether we would be able to maintain such competitive advantages in the future.

 

Our used automobile business, operated through our ucar.cn website, faces competitions from other used automobile websites, such as 51auto.com and hx2car.com , as well as other portals and media that publish used automobile information. The parameters of competition are similar to those of our bitauto.com business, except that the competition for our ucar.cn business is more focused on used automobile inventory and market penetration among dealers. Furthermore, the used automobile market is still in an early stage of development and we expect more competitors will join the market in the future.

 

For our digital marketing solutions business, we compete with other Internet marketing service providers in China. We face competition from the digital marketing business of well-established international advertising agencies such as Dentsu and WPP as well as local agencies that specialize in providing online marketing services, including AllYes Online Media, Hylink Advertising and Beijing Catch Stone Advertising. Most of these competitors do not focus only on the automotive industry, but also provide online marketing services to clients in other industries and may have greater resources and established reputation. As a result, these companies may be able to respond more quickly to changes in customer demands or to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products and services than we can. In the automotive industry, we not only compete for customers, but also compete in terms of advertisement design, relationships with other media vendors, the quality, breadth, prices and effectiveness of services. Competition could affect our market share, pricing, and cost structure. We may not be able to continue to compete effectively with our existing competitors, maintain our current fee arrangements, or compete effectively with new competitors in the future.

 

If we are unable to compete effectively and successfully at reasonable costs against our existing and future competitors in any of our business segments, our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

 

We may not be able to maintain good cooperative relationships with our partner websites on reasonable terms, which could materially harm our business and results of operations.

 

To broaden our automotive content’s consumer reach, we not only place listings by our dealer customers on our automotive vertical websites, bitauto.com and ucar.cn , but also on 67 partner websites, including major portals operated by Tencent, Sina, Netease, Yahoo China and Tom Online. We typically pay a fixed fee to our partner websites for their advertising resources. Our partner websites may change the terms of cooperation, including raising prices, which would increase our operating expenses and eventually force us to end our relationships with them if the terms become commercially unreasonable. In addition, some of our partner websites may choose to partner with our competitors or decide to develop an automobile listing and dealer information database by themselves. If we are unable to partner with all or most of major portals on reasonable terms, we may experience a reduction in the number of dealers using our services, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations. Although we do not rely on any one partner website for our dealer service business, material changes to our relationship, and our contract terms, with many of them may have a material adverse impact on our dealer service business model.

 

We rely on China’s automotive industry for substantially all our revenues and future growth, but the automotive industry is still at an early stage of development and subject to many uncertainties.

 

We rely on China’s automotive industry for substantially all our revenues, which we generate from providing Internet marketing services to automakers and automobile dealers. We have greatly benefited from the rapid growth of China’s automotive industry during the past few years. However, China’s automotive industry is still at an early stage of development and remains subject to many uncertainties. We cannot predict how this industry will develop in the future. Further, the growth of China’s automotive industry could be affected by many factors, including:

 

 

 

Any adverse change to these factors could reduce demand for automobiles, which, in return, would likely reduce demand for our products and services from automakers and dealers. Demand for our products and services is particularly sensitive to changes in general economic conditions. Automakers and dealers typically cut their marketing expenditures during periods of economic downturn. In addition, purchases of new automobiles are often discretionary for consumers and have been, and may continue to be, affected by negative trends in the economy. Historically, unit sales of automobiles, particularly new automobiles, has been cyclical, fluctuating with general economic cycles. If China’s automotive industry fails to expand or China’s economy stagnates or contracts, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

 

Any financial or economic crisis, or perceived threat of such a crisis, including a significant decrease in consumer confidence, may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Any actual or perceived threat of a financial crisis in China, in particular a credit and banking crisis, could have an indirect, but material and adverse impact on our business and results of operations. After experiencing brief disruptions caused by the United States financial crisis, the Chinese economy has rebounded since early 2009 partly due to a sharp rise in the volume of bank loans as part of China’s response to the global economic crisis. It is impossible to predict how the Chinese economy would develop in the future and whether it might experience any financial crisis in a manner and scale similar to that in the United States. Nonetheless, any slowdown in China’s economic development might lead to tighter credit market, increased market volatility, sudden drops in business and consumer confidence and dramatic changes in business and consumer behaviors. In response to their perceived uncertainty in economic conditions, consumers might delay, reduce or cancel purchases of automobiles, which are still considered as luxury items in China, and our customers may also defer, reduce or cancel purchasing our services. To the extent any fluctuations in the Chinese economy significantly affect automakers’ and dealers’ demand for our services or change their spending habits, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

 

In addition, an economic downturn may reduce the number of automakers and dealers in China and decrease the demand for our services. We depend on automakers and dealers for business. Continued economic growth in China expanded the network of automakers and dealers, which is the primary source of our customers. Since the early 1990s, many non-automotive enterprises joined China’s automotive industry and started offering new lines of automobiles. An increasing number of foreign brands gradually entered the Chinese market primarily by forming joint ventures with Chinese brands. Growing automobile production capacity and production volume have significantly increased the number of dealers. By contrast, negative economic trends could lead to consolidations among automakers and dealers, and in effect shrink our customer base. Production lines might be contracted or shut down. A reduction in the number of automakers and dealers would reduce the number of opportunities we have to sell our products and services. To the extent that the automakers and dealers have used our products or services, consolidations would result in cancellation of those product or service offerings. Any decrease in demand for our products and services could materially and adversely affect our ability to generate revenues, which in turn could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

We may be liable to pay the media vendors in connection with the advertisements we placed with them on behalf of our automaker customers if we fail to collect some or all the payments from these automaker customers.

 

As part of our digital marketing solutions business, we place advertisements on the websites of our media vendors on behalf of our automaker customers. We enter into advertising agreements with media vendors only after

our customers have confirmed the proposed advertisements in their agency agreements with us. The media vendors are obligated to place the advertisements based on our customers’ specific requirements. We receive net service fees for such advertising services and record a receivable from our customers and a corresponding payable due to the media vendors based on the total amount of advertisements placed. However, we need to pay our media vendors for their advertising resources when payments are due regardless of whether our automaker customers have made payments to us. Our contracts with media vendors generally also allow the media vendors to claim past-due payments of advertising fees directly from our automaker customers.

 

As of September 30, 2010, our trade and notes receivables and our trade payables were RMB321.7 million ($48.1 million) and RMB220.2 million ($32.9 million), respectively. Of these receivables and payables, RMB207.1 million ($31.0 million) was related to the receivables from our automaker customers and the corresponding payables due to media vendors in connection with the advertisements we placed with the media vendors on behalf of our automaker customers. Historically, we have not experienced any collection issues that required us to provide for bad debts in connection with our receivables from our automaker customers. Under our contracts with media vendors, terms of our trade payables due to media vendors generally correspond to, or are longer than, the terms of our receivables due from our automaker customers. However, we cannot assure you that our automaker customers will continue to make timely and full payments to us for the advertisements we placed on their behalves. If we fail to collect all or part of such payments from our automaker customers, we may continue to be held liable to pay the media vendors the full amount of our payables when they become due. In addition, we may incur penalty for late payments. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

 

Our customers may not renew their contracts for our services and we may not be able to sell additional or enhanced services to our existing customers.

 

Our customers, including automakers and dealers, may not renew their contracts or subscriptions for our services after the expiration of their terms. They may also renew for shorter contract lengths or for lower cost editions of our services. Our renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including customer dissatisfaction with our services, customers’ ability to maintain their operations and spending levels, and deteriorating general economic conditions. If our customers do not renew their contracts or subscriptions for our services or switch to lower cost editions at the time of renewal, our revenues could decline and our business may suffer. Our future success also depends in part on our ability to sell additional services or enhanced editions of our services to our current customers. This may also require increasingly sophisticated and costly sales efforts. Similarly, the rate at which our customers purchase new or enhanced services depends on a number of factors, including general economic conditions. If our efforts to sell new or enhanced services to our customers are not successful, our business may suffer.

 

Problems with China’s Internet infrastructure or with our third-party data center hosting facilities could impair the delivery of our services and harm our business.

 

Our Internet businesses are heavily dependent on the performance and reliability of China’s Internet infrastructure, the continual accessibility of bandwidth and servers to our service providers’ networks, and the continuing performance, reliability and availability of our technology platform. Our Easypass and Transtar platforms use the Internet to deliver services to our dealer customers, who access our software applications on the Internet. Distribution of dealer listing information is also accomplished through the Internet. Because we do not license our software to our customers, our customers depend on the Internet to access our services. In addition, we depend on the Internet to effectively publish our customers’ advertisements on our websites, which must be properly running and accessible to all visitors at all times. We rely on major Chinese telecommunication companies to provide us with bandwidth for our services, and we may not have any access to comparable alternative networks or services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems. Our content distribution networks, located in several regions throughout China, may also be shut down or otherwise experience interruptions in a particular region. Internet access may not be available in certain areas due to national disasters, such as earthquakes, or local government decisions. If we experience technical problems in delivering our services over the Internet either at

national or regional level, we could experience reduced demand for our services, lower revenues and increased costs.

 

Our main servers are located in the Internet data centers of third parties located in Beijing. We do not control the operation of these third-party data center hosting facilities, which are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events. They may also be subject to break-ins, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism and similar misconduct. Despite precautions taken at these facilities, the occurrence of a natural disaster or an act of terrorism, a decision to close the facilities without adequate notice or other unanticipated problems at these facilities could result in lengthy interruptions in our services. We regularly back up our data on servers in different locations or on tapes stored in our offices. Even with disaster recovery arrangements, our services could still be interrupted. Such interruptions would reduce our revenues, require us to provide the services again, make refunds or pay penalties, shrink our customer base and adversely affect our ability to attract new customers. Our business could also be materially and adversely affected if our current and potential customers believe our services are unreliable.

 

Any breaches to our security measures, including unauthorized access, computer viruses and “hacking,” may adversely affect our database and reduce use of our services and damage our reputation and brand names.

 

Breaches to our security measures, including computer viruses and hacking, may result in significant damage to our hardware and software systems and database, disruptions to our business activities, inadvertent disclosure of confidential or sensitive information, interruptions in access to our websites, and other material adverse effects on our operations.

 

In particular, security breaches to our database could have a material and adverse effect on our business. Our Easypass and Transtar platforms not only allow our customers to edit and publish listing information, but also store and transmit such listings and keep track of data on historical marketing activities. This information is proprietary and confidential. Security breaches could expose us to risks of loss of this information and possible liability. We require user names and passwords to access this data and the accounts of our customers. These security measures may be breached as a result of third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise, during transfer of data or at any time, and result in persons obtaining unauthorized access to our customers’ data. Additionally, third parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or customers into disclosing sensitive information such as user names, passwords or other information in order to gain access to our or our customers’ data. Our customers may not have effective security measures and may share their user names and passwords with a group larger than necessary. If our security measures are breached and unauthorized access to ours or our customer’s data is obtained, our services may be perceived as not being secure and customers may curtail or stop using our services altogether and we may incur significant legal and financial exposure and liabilities. We may incur significant costs to protect our systems and equipment against the threat of, and to repair any damage caused by, computer viruses and “hacking.” Moreover, if a computer virus or “hacking” affects our systems and is highly publicized, our reputation and brand names could be materially damaged and use of our services may decrease.

 

We may not be able to successfully expand our service network into other geographical markets in China.

 

We currently have sales and service representatives located in 77 cities across China and plan to expand our operations to more cities. Geographical expansion is particularly important for us to acquire more dealer customers, whose operations are invariably localized and spread out in every region. Our consumer-facing websites need localized content that are relevant to our website visitors in a specific region. Nonetheless, expanding into new geographical markets imposes additional burdens on our sales, marketing and general managerial resources. As China is a large and diverse market, business practices and demands may vary significantly by region and our experience in the markets in which we currently operate may not be applicable in other parts of China. As a result, we may not be able to leverage our experience to expand into other parts of China. If we are unable to manage our expansion efforts effectively, if our expansion efforts take longer than planned or if our costs for these efforts exceed our expectations, our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Our competitive position and ability to generate revenues could be further harmed if we fail to develop and introduce new products and services.

 

Continued increases in our advertising revenues from our new and used automobile websites depend on our ability to attract and acquire consumers to our websites and monetize that traffic at profitable margins with advertisers. If our websites do not provide a compelling, differentiated user experience, we may lose visitors to competing sites. Further, if traffic to our websites declines, we may lose some of our advertising customers who may reduce or eliminate their advertising purchases through us. Our competitors may introduce new alternative products that are more sophisticated and cost-effective than ours. In addition, both our dealer services and digital marketing solutions businesses rely on continued product and service innovations to retain existing, and attract new, customers. Our dealer customers may not continue to subscribe to our online listing services if we do not timely enhance their user experience and broaden our product and service offerings. Similarly, our digital marketing solutions business may gradually lose its competitive advantage if we are slower in technological innovations or in announcing either new or enhanced products and services.

 

To increase our brand recognition and stay competitive, we need to continue to develop new products and services for visitors to our websites and our automaker and dealer customers. The planned timing or introduction of new products and services is subject to risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that any of our new products and services will achieve widespread market acceptance and generate incremental revenues. Moreover, actual timing may differ materially from original plans. Unexpected technical, distribution or other problems could delay or prevent the introduction of one or more of its new products or services. If our new products and services are not well received, we may not only lose money, but also harm our reputation, and our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

 

Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations and unexpected interruptions, which make it difficult to accurately predict our future operating results.

 

We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, seasonal fluctuations in our revenues and results of operations. Historically, our revenues tend to be lower in the first half and higher in the second half of each year. Advertising and promotional activities often increase in the second half of each year. New automobile models tend to be introduced in the last quarter, which usually leads to increases in advertising spending by automakers. Furthermore, some of our customers whose fiscal year ends with the calendar year often choose to take advantage of the last opportunities to increase their annual revenues before the year ends. In comparison, activity levels tend to decrease after the fourth quarter’s spending. Our customers and automobile consumers may not yet have a set plan for the new fiscal year. Further, the holiday period following the Chinese New Year is usually in the first quarter, which may contribute to the lower activity levels in the first half of each year. Therefore, the seasonality of the automobile retail business and the resulting spending pattern of automakers and dealers may result in greater emphasis on the importance of our fourth quarter results.

 

Nonetheless, if conditions arise in the second half of a year that depress or affect automobile sales and marketing spending by our customers, such as depressed economic conditions or similar situations, our revenues for the year may be disproportionately and adversely affected. As a result of these factors, our revenues may vary from quarter to quarter and our quarterly results may not be comparable to the corresponding periods of prior years. Our actual results may differ significantly from our targets or estimated quarterly results. Therefore, you may not be able to predict our annual operating results based on a quarter-to-quarter comparison of our operating results. We expect quarterly fluctuations in our revenues and results of operations to continue. These fluctuations could result in volatility and cause the price of our ADSs to fall. As our revenues grow, these seasonal fluctuations may become more pronounced.

 

Our principal shareholders, directors and executive officers own a large percentage of our shares, allowing them to exercise significant influence over matters subject to shareholder approval, which may reduce the price of our ADSs and deprive you of an opportunity to receive a premium for your ADSs.

 

After this offering, our principal shareholders, directors and executive officers will beneficially own approximately 64.8% of our outstanding ordinary shares, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment

option. Accordingly, these executive officers, directors and principal shareholders have substantial influence over the outcome of corporate actions requiring shareholders’ approval, including the election of directors, any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets or any other significant corporate transaction, and their interests may not align with your interests as our ADSs holders. These shareholders may also delay or prevent a change of control or otherwise discourage a potential acquirer from attempting to obtain control of us, even if such a change of control would benefit you and our other shareholders. Corporate actions may be taken even if they are opposed by you and our other shareholders. This could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company. In addition, the significant concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our ADSs due to investors’ perception that conflicts of interest may exist or arise.

 

Our business may be harmed by the potential conflicts of interest caused by our dual roles as both a supplier and a purchaser of advertisement resources.

 

As an Internet content provider, we supply advertisement space; as an advertising agent, we purchase advertisement space on behalf of our customers; as an automobile listing platform, we also purchase advertisement space and include it in our dealer subscription service package. Conflict of interests may arise between our roles as a purchaser and as a supplier of advertisement resources. As a supplier, we have incentives to place more advertisements on our own websites. Such conflicts could harm our reputation as an independent purchasing agent for our clients and our reputation as a supplier of advertisement resources. While we have and will continue to follow our clients’ instruction and maximize their interests, we do not know how the market will respond to our multi-functional roles in the future. Our customers have directed, and will continue directing, us to place their advertisements on websites of their choice, including websites in direct competition with ours, or our customers may choose not to advertise on our websites at all. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

 

Government policies on automobile purchases and ownership may materially affect our results of operations.

 

Government policies on automobile purchases and ownership may have a material effect on our business due to their influence on consumer behaviors. In early 2009, the PRC government lowered the purchase tax on passenger automobiles with 1.6 liter or smaller engine from 10% to 5% and introduced a trade-in subsidy on used automobiles with lower emission standards ranging from RMB3,000 to RMB6,000, leading to a 46% increase in passenger automobile sales in 2009. The purchase-tax cut was adjusted to 7.5% in 2010. In the face of concerns about a significant slowdown in automobile sales in 2010, the PRC government announced a plan to provide a subsidy of RMB3,000 per automobile for purchases of certain fuel-efficient automobiles with 1.6-liter or smaller engines. The trade-in subsidy was also expanded from RMB5,000 to RMB18,000. These government policies may have an indirect, but material impact on our business due to our reliance on the financial performance of automakers and automobile dealers. We cannot predict whether such government subsidies and tax cuts will continue in the future or whether similar incentives will be introduced, and if they are, their impact on automobile sales in China. It is possible that automobile sales may decline significantly upon expiration of the subsidy or tax cut if consumers have become used to such incentives and would delay purchase decisions in the absence of new incentives. As a result, our revenues may fluctuate and our results of operations may suffer.

 

If automakers are subject to product recalls, our business could suffer and our revenues may decrease.

 

Automakers are periodically subject to product recalls. In early 2010, Toyota announced product recalls around the world related to several of its automobile models. These product recalls interrupted the normal business operation of Toyota, its joint ventures and its dealers in China. In the past, other customers of ours also experienced product recalls. It is difficult to determine the impact product recalls might have on our business and revenues, but we expect that our revenues may decrease if Chinese consumers stop or reduce purchasing automobiles made by the recalling automakers, which might discourage such automakers and their dealers from using our services. If any of our customers experience product recalls in the future, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We may be subject to liability for placing advertisements with content that is deemed inappropriate or misleading.

 

PRC laws and regulations prohibit advertising companies from producing, distributing or publishing any advertisement that contains any content that violates laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of the PRC, involves designs of the PRC national flag, national emblem or national anthem or the music of the national anthem, is considered reactionary, obscene, superstitious or absurd, is fraudulent, or disparages similar products. Some of our customers choose to produce their advertisements by themselves and we simply place them on our websites. While we do have a review procedure prior to publishing, we cannot guarantee that we can entirely eliminate such advertisements. If we are deemed to be in violation of such PRC regulations, we may be subject to penalties, including suspension of publishing, confiscation of the revenues related to these advertisements, levying of fines and suspension or revocation of our business license or advertising license, any of which may materially and adversely affect our business.

 

Furthermore, we may be subject to claims by consumers misled by information on our websites or other portals powered by our database. We may not to be able to recover our losses from advertisers by enforcing the indemnification provisions in the contracts. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

 

We may not be able to ensure the accuracy of dealer pricing and listing information.

 

We rely on our dealer customers to timely and accurately update their automobile information, prices, sales and promotions. The popularity of our automobile listings posted by dealers, in particular pricing information of automobiles, is premised on the accuracy, comprehensiveness and reliability of the data. If the information listed by our dealer customers is frequently misleading or exaggerated, we may gradually lose our appeal for our visitors. Our reputation could be harmed and we could experience reduced traffic to our websites, which could adversely affect our business and financial performance.

 

Failure to protect our brand, trademarks, software copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights could have a negative impact on our business.

 

We believe our brand, trademarks, software copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights are critical to our success. Any unauthorized use of our brand, trademarks, software copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights could harm our competitive advantages and business. Our efforts in protecting our brand and intellectual property rights may not always be effective. We regularly file applications to register our trademarks in China, but may not be able to register such marks, or register them within the category we seek. As of the date of this prospectus, our applications to register certain Chinese-language marks related to “ ” and “ ” are still pending approval by the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of PRC, or the PRC Trademark Office. Our “ ” trademark was registered under some categories, but not under all categories we applied for. We are aware that the name ‘‘ ” is currently being used by Shenzhen Jinwei Tech, an automobile navigation system manufacturer in China, and that Shenzhen Lianhe Licheng Technology Development Company Limited registered “ ” with the PRC Trademark Office in 2006 under a category different from ours. We are also aware that marks that bear similarities to “ ” in writing or in pronunciation (such as “ ’’, “ ” and “ ”) have been registered in a number of categories by third parties unrelated to us. As a result, our trademarks, in particular “ ”, may have been diluted. Such dilution could cause confusion among consumers or divert business opportunities from us, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

 

Historically, China has not protected intellectual property rights to the same extent as the United States, and infringement of intellectual property rights continues to pose a serious risk in doing business in China. Monitoring and preventing unauthorized use is difficult. The measures we take to protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate. For example, some of our applications to register certain trademarks were denied by relevant PRC authorities in the past. Further, the application of laws governing intellectual property rights in China is uncertain and evolving, and could involve substantial risks to us. As the right to use Internet domain names is not rigorously regulated in China, other companies may have incorporated in their domain names elements similar in writing or

pronunciation to our trademarks and domain names. Our business could be materially and adversely affected if we could not adequately protect our content, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and our other intellectual property.

 

Copyright infringement and other intellectual property claims against us may adversely affect our business.

 

We have collected and compiled on our websites, automobile-related news and reports, automobile pictures and specifications, maps, consumer reviews, and other documents and information prepared by third parties. Because some content on our websites is collected from various sources, we may be subject to claims for breach of contract, defamation, negligence, unfair competition, copyright or trademark infringement, or claims based on other theories. We could also be subject to claims based upon the content that is displayed on our websites or accessible from our websites through links to other websites or information on our websites supplied by third parties. Any lawsuits or threatened lawsuits, in which we are involved, either as a plaintiff or as a defendant, could cost us a significant amount of time and money and distract management’s attention from operating our business. Any judgments against us in such suits, or related settlements, could harm our reputation and have a material adverse affect on our results of operations. If a lawsuit against us is successful, we may be required to pay damages or enter into royalty or license agreements that may not be based upon commercially reasonable terms, or we may be unable to enter into such agreements at all. As a result, the scope of our database we offer to the consumers could be reduced, which may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers.

 

We rely heavily on our senior management team and key personnel and the loss of any of their services could severely disrupt our business.

 

Our future success is highly dependent on the ongoing efforts of our senior management and key personnel. We rely on our management team for their extensive knowledge of and experience in China’s automotive and Internet industries as well as their deep understanding of the Chinese automobile market, business environment and regulatory regime. We do not carry, and do not intend to procure, key person insurance on any of our senior management team. The loss of the services of one or more of our senior executives or key personnel, Mr. Bin Li in particular, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Competition for senior management and key personnel is intense, and the pool of suitable candidates is very limited, and we may not be able to retain the services of our senior executives or key personnel, or attract and retain senior executives or key personnel in the future. If we fail to retain our senior management, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, if any members of our senior management or any of our key personnel joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may not be able to replace them easily and we may lose customers, business partners and key staff members. Each of our senior executives and key personnel has entered into an employment agreement with us, which contains confidentiality and non-competition provisions. In the event of a dispute between any of our senior executives or key personnel and us, we cannot assure you as to the extent, if any, that these provisions may be enforceable in the PRC due to uncertainties involving the PRC legal system.

 

We may not be able to attract and retain highly skilled employees, provide necessary training or maintain good relationships with our employees.

 

Our business is supported and enhanced by a team of highly skilled employees who are critical to maintaining the quality and consistency of our services and our brand and reputation. It is important for us to attract qualified employees, in particular sales executives and engineers with high levels of experience in creative design, software development and Internet-related services. Competition for these employees is intense. There may be a limited supply of qualified individuals in some of the cities in China where we have operations and other cities into which we intend to expand. In order to attract prospective, and retain current, employees, we may have to increase our employee compensation by a larger scale and at a faster pace than we expect, which would increase our operating expenses. In addition, we must hire and train qualified employees in a timely manner to keep pace with our rapid growth while maintaining consistent quality of services across our operations in various geographic locations. We must also provide continuous training to our employees so that they are equipped with up-to-date knowledge of various aspects of our operations and can meet our demand for high-quality services. If we fail to do so, the quality

of our services may deteriorate in one or more of the markets where we operate, which may cause a negative perception of our brand and adversely affect our business. Finally, we may run into disputes with our employees from time to time and if we are not able to properly handle our relationship with our employees, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

 

Our business may suffer if we do not successfully manage our current and future growth.

 

We have experienced rapid growth in the past few years. Our revenues increased from RMB127.7 million in 2007 to RMB239.0 million in 2008 and RMB293.3 million ($43.8 million) in 2009 and increased from RMB195.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 to RMB299.3 million ($44.7 million) for the nine months ended September 30, 2010. Our sales and service representative network has expanded to 77 cities as of September 30, 2010. We intend to continue to expand our operations. However, we may not be able to sustain a similar growth rate in revenues or geographic coverage in future periods due to a number of factors, including the greater difficulty of growing at sustained rates from a larger revenue base. In addition, our expansion has placed, and will continue to place, substantial demands on our managerial, operational, technological and other resources. In order to manage and support our growth, we must continue to improve our existing operational, administrative and technological systems and our financial and management controls, and recruit, train and retain additional qualified personnel, particularly as we expand into new markets. As our operations expand into more cities throughout China, we will face increasing challenges in managing a large and geographically dispersed group of employees. We may not be able to effectively and efficiently manage the growth of our operations, recruit and retain qualified personnel and integrate new operations into our current business plan. As a result, our reputation, business and operations may suffer. Accordingly, you should not rely on our historical growth rate as an indication of our future performance.

 

Our limited operating history may not serve as an adequate basis to judge our future prospects and results of operations.

 

We began operations in 2000 and did not begin to grow significantly until 2005. Our limited operating history may not provide a meaningful basis on which to evaluate our business. We expect that our operating expenses will increase as we expand. Any significant failure to realize anticipated revenue growth could result in significant operating losses. We will continue to encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by companies at a similar stage of development, including our potential failure to:

 

 

If we are not successful in addressing any or all of these risks, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

 

We are susceptible to risks related to cash flow management.

 

We have experienced, and may continue to experience, short-term cash flow management problems from time to time. For example, some of our advertising services are not paid until after our services are fully performed. Some automakers may designate their advertising agencies to place their advertisements on our websites and subsequently pay us. Such advertising agencies may delay making payments to us, leading to longer aging cycles of our account receivables. Our cash flow from operations might not be sufficient to cover our account payables and we may incur penalty payments if we cannot pay third-party vendors on time. We may need to expend more resources in payment collections. This could negatively affect our results of operations in certain quarters and make it impossible to predict our future operating results.

Our third-party vendors may raise prices and as a result increase our operating expenses.

 

We rely on third parties for certain essential services, such as Internet services and server custody, and we may not have any control over the costs of the services they provide. Any third-party service provider may raise their prices, which might not be commercially reasonable to us. If we are forced to seek other providers, there is no assurance that we will be able to find alternative providers willing or able to provide high-quality services and there is no assurance that such providers will not charge us higher prices for their services. If the prices that we are required to pay third-party vendors for services rise significantly, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

 

Future acquisitions could prove difficult to integrate, disrupt our business and lower our operating results and the value of your investment.

 

As part of our business strategy, we regularly evaluate investments in, or acquisitions of, complementary businesses, joint ventures, services and technologies, and we expect that periodically we will continue to make such investments and acquisitions in the future. Acquisitions and investments involve numerous risks, including:

 

 

In addition, if we finance acquisitions by issuing equity or convertible debt securities, our existing shareholders may be diluted, which could affect the market price of our ADSs. Further, if we fail to properly evaluate and execute acquisitions or investments, our business and prospects may be seriously harmed and the value of your investment may decline.

 

Furthermore, we may fail to identify or secure suitable acquisition and business partnership opportunities or our competitors may capitalize on such opportunities before we do, which could impair our ability to compete with our competitors and adversely affect our growth prospects and results of operations.

 

Any catastrophe, including outbreaks of health pandemics and other extraordinary events, could severely disrupt our business operations.

 

Our operations are vulnerable to interruption and damage from natural and other types of catastrophes, including earthquakes, fire, floods, hail, windstorms, severe winter weather (including snow, freezing water, ice storms and blizzards), environmental accidents, power loss, communications failures, explosions, man-made events such as terrorist attacks, and similar events. Due to their nature, we cannot predict the incidence, timing and severity of catastrophes. In addition, changing climate conditions, primarily rising global temperatures, may be increasing, or may in the future increase, the frequency and severity of natural catastrophes. If any such catastrophe or extraordinary event were to occur in the future, our ability to operate our business could be seriously impaired. Such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our services to our customers and could decrease demand for our services. Although we are headquartered in Beijing, we have operations in approximately 47 cities and sales and service representatives located in 77 cities throughout China, exposing us to potential catastrophes of all types in a broad geographic area in China. Because our property insurance only covers property damages caused by a limited number of numerated natural disasters and accidents and significant time could be required to resume our operations, our financial position and operating results could be materially and adversely affected in the event of any major catastrophic event.

 

In addition, our business could be materially and adversely affected by the outbreak of influenza A (H1N1), commonly referred to as “swine flu,” avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, or other pandemics. Any occurrence of these pandemic diseases or other adverse public health developments in China could severely disrupt our staffing and otherwise reduce the activity levels of our work force, causing a material and adverse effect on our business operations.

We do not have any business liability, disruption or litigation insurance, and any business disruption or litigation we experience might result in our incurring substantial costs and diversion of resources.

 

The insurance industry in China is still at an early stage of development. Insurance companies in China offer limited business insurance products and are, to our knowledge, not well-developed in the field of business liability insurance. While business disruption insurance is available to a limited extent in China, we have determined that the risks of disruption, cost of such insurance and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurance on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to have such insurance. As a result, except for property insurance and automobile insurance, we do not have any business liability, disruption or litigation insurance coverage for our operations in China. Any business disruption or litigation may result in our incurring substantial costs and diversion of resources.

 

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

 

If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our businesses in China do not comply with applicable PRC governmental restrictions on foreign investment in Internet content and marketing services, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

 

PRC law currently limits foreign ownership of companies that provide Internet content services in China up to 50%. Foreign and wholly foreign-owned enterprises are currently restricted from providing other Internet information services, such as Internet advertising. Also, PRC laws and regulations do not allow foreign entities with less than at least two years of direct experience operating an advertising business outside of China to invest in an advertising business in China. Because we have no direct experience operating an advertising business outside of China, we may not invest directly in a PRC entity that provides advertising services in China. We are a Cayman Islands company and foreign legal person under PRC law. Accordingly, neither we nor our wholly foreign-invested PRC subsidiary, BBII, is currently eligible to apply for the required licenses for providing Internet content services or advertising services in China.

 

As such, we conduct our business through contractual arrangements with our SPEs in China, that is, our Internet content business through BBIT, and our Internet advertising business through CIG and BEAM, and subsidiaries of BBIT and CIG. Each of the SPEs is currently owned by individual shareholders who are PRC citizens and holds the requisite licenses or permits to provide Internet content or advertising services in China. Their shareholders are set forth in “Our Corporate History and Structure.” BBIT holds licenses and permits required to operate our Internet content business and each of CIG and BEAM holds the licenses for our Internet advertising business. They all entered into a series of contractual arrangements with BBII but directly operate our businesses in China. We have been and are expected to continue to be dependent on SPEs to operate our businesses. We do not have any equity interest in any of the SPEs but substantially control their operations and receive the economic benefits through a series of contractual arrangements. For more information regarding these contractual arrangements, see “Our Corporate History and Structure.”

 

Furthermore, on July 26, 2006, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT, released the Circular on Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Investment in Operating Value-added Telecommunications Business, or the MIIT Notice, which reiterates certain provisions under China’s Administrative Rules on Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises. Among other things, the MIIT Notice prohibits domestic telecommunications license holders from renting, transferring or selling telecommunications licenses to any foreign investors in any form and from providing any assistance, including providing resources, sites or facilities, to foreign investors that conduct value-added telecommunications business illegally in China. Under the MIIT Notice, holders of valued-added telecommunications business operating licenses, or their shareholders, must directly own the domain names and registered trademarks used by such license holders in their daily operations. BBIT’s Internet information services and CIG’s website creation and maintenance services are considered value-added telecommunication services set forth in the MIIT Notice, but BBIT and CIG do not directly own all the trademarks used on their websites. To comply with this requirement under the MIIT Notice, we are in the process of transferring the trademarks used on BBIT’s websites to BBIT, which holds a Telecommunication and Information Service Business

Operating License, or ICP License, for our Internet information services. CIG holds a Regional VAT license that allows it to provide website creation and maintenance services in Beijing. CIG generally owns the necessary domain names of the websites that CIG creates for, or maintains on behalf of, our customers, but CIG does not own the trademarks displayed on these websites. Since there is currently no official interpretation or implementation practice under the MIIT Notice, it remains uncertain how the MIIT Notice will be enforced and whether or to what extent the MIIT Notice may affect the legality of the corporate structures and contractual arrangements adopted by foreign-invested Internet companies that operate in China.

 

There are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, rules and regulations, including but not limited to the laws, rules and regulations governing the validity and enforcement of our contractual arrangements with SPEs. We have also been advised by our PRC counsel that each of such contractual agreements for operating our business in China (including our corporate structure and contractual arrangements with the SPEs) complies with all applicable existing PRC laws, rules and regulations, and does not violate, breach, contravene or otherwise conflict with any applicable PRC laws, rules or regulations. However, we cannot assure you that the PRC regulatory authorities will not adopt any new regulation to restrict or prohibit foreign investment in advertising business and value-added telecommunications business through contractual arrangement in the future, or will not determine that our corporate structure and contractual arrangements violate PRC laws, rules or regulations.

 

If we, any of the SPEs or any of their current or future subsidiaries are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, or fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant PRC regulatory authorities, including the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which regulates advertising companies, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates Internet information services companies, would have broad discretion in dealing with such violations, including:

 

 

The imposition of any of these penalties would result in a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business, and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

We rely on contractual arrangements with our SPEs in China, and their shareholders, for our business operations, which may not be as effective in providing operational control or enabling us to derive economic benefits as through ownership of controlling equity interest.

 

We rely on and expect to continue to rely on contractual arrangements with our SPEs in China and their respective shareholders to operate our Internet content and advertising services business. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective in providing us with control over the SPEs as ownership of controlling equity interests would be in providing us with control over, or enabling us to derive economic benefits from the operations of, the SPEs. If we had direct ownership of the SPEs, we would be able to exercise our rights as a shareholder to (i) effect changes in the board of directors of those entities, which in turn could effect changes, subject to any applicable fiduciary obligations, at the management level, and (ii) derive economic benefits from the operations of the SPEs by causing them to declare and pay dividends. However, under the current contractual arrangements, as a legal matter, if any of the SPEs or any of their shareholders fails to perform its, his or her respective obligations under these contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs and resources to

enforce such arrangements, and rely on legal remedies available under PRC laws, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure you will be effective. For example, if shareholders of a special purpose entity were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in such SPE to us or our designated persons when we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, we may have to take a legal action to compel them to fulfill their contractual obligations.

 

If (i) the applicable PRC authorities invalidate these contractual arrangements for violation of PRC laws, rules and regulations, (ii) any SPE or its shareholders terminate the contractual arrangements or (iii) any SPE or its shareholders fail to perform their obligations under these contractual arrangements, our business operations in China would be materially and adversely affected, and the value of your ADSs would substantially decrease. Further, if we fail to renew these contractual arrangements upon their expiration, we would not be able to continue our business operations unless the then-current PRC law allows us to directly operate Internet content and advertising businesses in China.

 

In addition, if any SPE or all or part of its assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business activities, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations. If any of the SPEs undergoes a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, its shareholders or unrelated third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, our ability to generate revenues and the market price of your ADSs.

 

All of these contractual arrangements are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in the PRC. The legal environment in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our operating entities and we may be precluded from operating our business, which would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

The shareholders of our SPEs may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

 

Conflicts of interest may arise between the dual roles of those individuals who are both minority shareholders, directors and executive officers of our company and shareholders of our SPEs. Mr. Bin Li and Mr. Weihai Qu jointly own all the equity interests in BBIT and CIG, with whom we conduct our business through contractual arrangements. In comparison, Mr. Li and Mr. Qu each only hold a minority interest in us and the percentage of their ownerships in us will become smaller when we go public. The fiduciary duty implied from their roles as our directors and executive officers is not fully aligned with their interests as shareholders of our SPEs. The same analysis applies to BEAM, which is is jointly owned by eight PRC individuals who may also serve as our officers. These individuals may breach or cause the SPEs that they beneficially own to breach or refuse to renew the existing contractual arrangements, which will have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively control the SPEs and receive economic benefits from them. We do not have existing arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these individuals and our company and cannot assure you that when conflicts arise, these individuals will act in the best interests of our company or that conflicts will be resolved in our favor. If we cannot resolve any conflicts of interest or disputes between us and those individuals, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which may materially disrupt our business. There is also substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

 

Contractual arrangements with the SPEs may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities and may result in a finding that we and the SPEs owe additional taxes or are ineligible for tax exemption, or both, which could substantially increase our taxes owed and thereby reduce our net income and the value of your investment.

 

Under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audits or challenges by the PRC tax authorities. We are not able to determine whether any of our transactions with our SPEs and their respective shareholders will be regarded by the PRC tax authorities as

arm’s-length transactions. The relevant tax authorities may perform investigations to determine whether our contractual relationships with our SPEs and their respective shareholders were entered into on an arm’s-length basis. If any of the transactions we have entered into among our wholly-owned subsidiary in China and any of the SPEs and their respective shareholders are determined by the PRC tax authorities not to be on an arm’s-length basis, or are found to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, the PRC tax authorities may require us to make transfer pricing adjustments or adjust the profits and losses of such SPE and assess more taxes on it. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties to such SPE for under-paid taxes. Our results of operations may be adversely and materially affected if the tax liabilities of any of the SPEs increase or if it is found to be subject to late payment fees or other penalties.

 

Our contractual arrangements with our PRC special purpose entities may result in adverse tax consequences to us.

 

As a result of our corporate structure and the contractual arrangements between us and our PRC SPEs, we are effectively subject to a 5% PRC business tax on revenues derived from our contractual arrangements with our PRC SPEs. We may be subject to adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities were to determine that the contracts between us and our PRC SPEs were not on an arm’s length basis and therefore constitute favorable transfer pricing arrangements. If this occurs, the PRC tax authorities could request that our PRC SPEs adjust its taxable income, if any, upward for PRC tax purposes. Such a pricing adjustment could adversely affect us by increasing our PRC SPEs’ tax expenses without reducing our tax expenses, which could subject our PRC SPEs to late payment fees and other penalties for underpayment of taxes. The PRC enterprise income tax law requires every enterprise in China to submit its annual enterprise income tax return together with a report on transactions with its related parties to the relevant tax authorities. The tax authorities may impose reasonable adjustments on taxation if they have identified any related party transactions that are inconsistent with arm’s length principles. As a result, our contractual arrangements with our PRC SPEs may result in adverse tax consequences to us.

 

We may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our wholly owned subsidiary to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our subsidiary to pay dividends to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business.

 

We are a holding company, and we may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by BBII, our subsidiary in China, for our cash requirements, including the funds necessary to service any debt we may incur. If BBII incurs debt on its own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict its ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may require us to adjust our taxable income under the contractual arrangements BBII currently has in place with the SPEs in a manner that would materially and adversely affect the ability of BBII to pay dividends and other distributions to us. Further, relevant PRC laws, rules and regulations permit payments of dividends by BBII only out of its retained earnings, if any, determined in accordance with accounting standards and regulations of China. Under PRC laws, rules and regulations, BBII is also required to set aside a portion of its net income each year to fund specific reserve funds. In addition, the statutory general reserve fund requires annual appropriations of 10% of after-tax income to be set aside prior to payment of dividends until the cumulative fund reaches 50% of BBII’s registered capital. Therefore, BBII ability is limited in terms of transferring a portion of its net assets to us whether in the form of dividends, loans or advances. Any limitation on the ability of our subsidiary to pay dividends to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our businesses, pay dividends or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

 

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

 

Adverse changes in political and economic policies of the PRC government could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China, which could reduce the demand for our services and materially and adversely affect our competitive position.

 

Since substantially all of our business operations are conducted in China, our business, financial position, results of operations and prospects are affected significantly by economic, political and legal developments in China. Because our business is closely related to the automotive industry and the Internet marketing industry, both

of which are highly sensitive to business and personal discretionary spending levels, our business tends to decline during general economic downturns.

 

The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the degree of government involvement, the level of development, the growth rate, the control of foreign exchange, access to financing and the allocation of resources. While the Chinese economy has grown significantly in the past three decades, the growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. Further, the Chinese economy has been transitioning from a planned economy to a more market-oriented economy and a substantial portion of the productive assets in China is still owned by the PRC government. The PRC government exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through the allocation of resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies. In addition, other economic measures, as well as future actions and policies of the PRC government, could also materially affect our liquidity and access to capital and our ability to operate our business.

 

The PRC government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may also have a negative effect on our operations. For example, our results of operations and financial position may be materially and adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations that are applicable to us. Moreover, under current PRC regulations, since December 10, 2005, foreign entities have been allowed to directly own 100% of a PRC advertising business if the foreign entity has at least three years of direct operations of an advertising business outside of China, or to directly own less than 100% of a PRC advertising business if the foreign entity has at least two years of direct operations of an advertising business outside of China. This may encourage foreign advertising companies with more experience, greater technological know-how and more extensive financial resources than we have to compete against us and limit the potential for our growth. Also see “— Risks Related to Our Business and Industry — Government policies on automobile purchases and ownership may materially affect our results of operations.”

 

We may be required to obtain Internet publishing approval and be subject to fines and other penalties if we are deemed to conduct “Internet publishing” activities by relevant PRC authorities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business operation.

 

The General Administration of Press and Publication and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the Interim Provisions for the Administration of Internet Publishing, or the Internet Publishing Regulations, which became effective on August 1, 2002. The Internet Publishing Regulations authorize the General Administration of Press and Publication, or the GAPP, to grant approval to all entities that engage in Internet publishing.

 

Pursuant to the Internet Publishing Regulations, the term “Internet publishing” shall mean the act of online spreading of articles, whereby the Internet information service providers select, edit and process works created by themselves or others and subsequently post such works on the Internet or transmit such works to users via the Internet for the public to browse, read, use or download.

 

As an Internet content provider, BBIT releases articles to the Internet users on its websites. According to the above regulations, such acts may be deemed Internet publishing. We and our PRC counsel have consulted the local press and publication administration authority and have been informed that BBIT is a private enterprise and the websites it owns do not have as extensive an influence on the industry compared to other Internet websites, therefore it is unlikely that such approval will be issued for BBIT’s publishing activities by GAPP. As a result, BBIT has not applied for such Internet publishing approval. However, in the event that such activities are deemed to be “Internet publishing” that require governmental approval in the future, we will be required to obtain approval from the GAPP. If we are deemed to be in breach of relevant Internet publishing regulations, the PRC regulatory authorities may seize the related equipment and servers used primarily for such activities and any revenues generated from such activities would also be confiscated. In addition, relevant PRC authorities may also impose a fine of five to ten times of any revenues exceeding RMB10,000 or a fine of not more than RMB50,000 if such related revenues are below RMB10,000.

We may be required to obtain an Internet news releasing service license and be subject to fines and/or suspension of business operations if any of the Internet news posted on our websites is deemed to be political in nature, relate to macro-economics, or otherwise would require an Internet news releasing service license.

 

In September 2005, the State Council Information Office and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the Provisions for the Administration of Internet News Information Services, or Internet News Provision. Internet news information services shall include the publishing of news via Internet, provision of electronic bulletin services on current and political events, and transmission of information on current and political events to the public. Under the Internet News Provision, the Internet news service providers shall also include entities that are not established by news press but reproduce Internet news from other sources, provide electronic bulletin services on current and political events, and transmit such information to the public. The Information Office of the State Council shall be in charge of the supervision and administration of the Internet news information services throughout China. The counterparts of the Information Office of the State Council at the province level shall take charge of the supervision and administration of the Internet news information services within their own jurisdiction.

 

As an Internet content provider, we release information related to the automotive industry to Internet users. In the event that such activities are deemed to be Internet news releasing services, we will be required to obtain an Internet news releasing service license. However, we and our PRC counsel have consulted the relevant government authorities and have been informed that according to their understanding, the term “news” referred to in the Internet News Provision means macro-economic news of the state, that we would not be required to obtain the Internet news releasing license because we only post industry-related news produced by others, for which we clearly indicate the sources of such news on our websites, and we ourselves do not edit or compose such news. However, if any of the Internet news posted on our websites is deemed by the government to be political in nature, relate to macro-economics, or otherwise require such license, we would need to apply for such license. If we are deemed to be in breach of the Internet News Provision or other relevant Internet news releasing regulations, the PRC regulatory authorities may suspend relevant activities and impose a fine exceeding RMB10,000 but not more than RMB30,000. In serious cases, the PRC regulatory authorities may even suspend the Internet service or Internet access.

 

We may not be able to obtain a qualification certificate for our Internet mapping services, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

 

Pursuant to the PRC regulations applicable to Internet mapping services issued by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, such as the Administrative Measures on the Qualifications of Surveying and Mapping and the Classification Standards for the Surveying and Mapping Qualifications, both of which took effect on June 1, 2009, and the Qualifications for Internet Mapping Services effective as of May 10, 2010, Internet maps refer to the real time generated electronic maps having inter-control, data search and property marking characteristics, which are produced based on the geographic information database at the server location and are posted on the Internet or transmitted through the Internet. The provider of Internet mapping services shall apply for a surveying and mapping qualification certificate for Internet mapping with the competent surveying and mapping bureau. The PRC regulations also provide for certain conditions and requirements for issuing the surveying and mapping qualification certificate, such as the minimum amount of registered capital, the number of technical personnel and map security verification personnel, security facilities, ISO9000 certification or approval from relevant provincial or municipal governments. BBIT currently provides online traffic information inquiry services as well as Internet map marking and inquiry services that allow users to locate automobile dealers. BBIT plans to expand its business in the future to include electronic mapping services that allow users to search driving routes and tourist spots. We are now applying for a surveying and mapping qualification certificate for Internet mapping. However, we cannot assure you that BBIT will satisfy all the conditions for the surveying and mapping qualification and therefore obtain the surveying and mapping qualification certificate for its Internet mapping business.

Uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could limit the protection available to you and us.

 

We conduct our business primarily through our subsidiaries and SPEs in China. Our operations in China are governed by PRC laws and regulations. The PRC legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike in the common law system, prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. Since 1979, PRC legislation and regulations have significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investments in China. We conduct all of our business through our subsidiary and SPEs established in China. However, since the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involve uncertainties, which may limit legal protections available to us. For example, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce the legal protection that we enjoy either by law or contract. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all, which may have a retroactive effect.

 

Any litigation in China may be protracted and result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources and management attention. It may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of Chinese administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection we enjoy in China than in more developed legal systems because PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms. Such uncertainties may impede our ability to enforce the contracts we have entered into with our business partners, customers and suppliers. Furthermore, intellectual property rights and confidentiality protections in China may not be as effective as in the United States or other countries. We cannot predict the effect of future developments in the PRC legal system, including the promulgation of new laws, changes to existing laws or the interpretation or enforcement thereof, or the preemption of local regulations by national laws. These uncertainties could limit the legal protections available to us and other foreign investors, including you.

 

The approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, may be required in connection with this offering. Any requirement to obtain prior CSRC approval could delay this offering, and our failure to obtain this approval, if required, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, reputation and trading price of our ADSs.

 

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the CSRC, promulgated a regulation entitled Provisions Regarding Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the SPV Regulation. The SPV Regulation provides that an offshore special purpose vehicle, or SPV, formed for purposes of overseas listing of equity interests in PRC companies via acquisition and controlled directly or indirectly by PRC companies or individuals shall obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the listing and trading of the SPV’s securities on an overseas stock exchange. The applicability of the SPV Regulation with respect to CSRC approval is unclear. On September 21, 2006, the CSRC issued a clarification that sets forth the criteria and process for obtaining any required approval from the CSRC.

 

Our PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, has advised us that, based on their understanding of the current PRC laws, rules and regulations, including the SPV Regulation, since our wholly-owned PRC subsidiary was established prior to September 8, 2006, the effective date of the SPV Regulation, by foreign direct investment, rather than through a merger or acquisition of a domestic company as defined under the SPV Regulation, and no explicit provision in the SPV Regulation classifies the contractual arrangements between BBII and each of the PRC affiliates as a type of acquisition transaction falling under the SPV Regulation, the SPV Regulation does not require us to obtain prior CSRC approval for the listing and trading of our ADSs on the NYSE. However, if the CSRC subsequently determines that its prior approval is required, we may face regulatory actions or other sanctions from the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies. These regulatory agencies may impose fines and penalties on our operations, limit our operating privileges, delay or restrict sending the proceeds from this offering into China, or take other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations, reputation and prospects, as well as the trading price of our ADSs. The CSRC or other PRC regulatory agencies also may take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, to halt this offering before settlement and delivery of the ADSs offered hereby. Consequently, if you engage in market trading or other activities in anticipation of and prior to settlement and delivery, you do so at the risk that such settlement and delivery may not occur.

We cannot predict when the CSRC may promulgate additional rules or other guidance, if at all. If implementing rules or guidance is issued prior to the completion of this offering and consequently we conclude that we are required to obtain CSRC approval, this offering will be delayed until we obtain CSRC approval, which may take several months or longer. Moreover, implementing rules or guidance, to the extent issued, may fail to resolve current ambiguities under the SPV Regulation. Uncertainties and/or negative publicity regarding the SPV Regulation could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our ADSs.

 

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may increase our administrative burden and restrict our overseas and cross-border investment activity. If our shareholders fail to make any required applications and filings under such regulations, we may be unable to distribute profits and may become subject to liability under PRC laws.

 

On October 21, 2005, the PRC State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, issued a public circular, or Circular 75, which became effective on November 1, 2005. Circular 75, together with its subsequent implementation procedures and clarifications, requires PRC residents (including both legal person and natural persons) to register with the local SAFE branch before establishing or controlling any company outside of China for the purpose of capital financing with assets or equities of PRC companies, referred to in the circular as an “offshore special purpose company.” PRC residents who are shareholders of offshore special purpose companies established before November 1, 2005 were required to register with the local SAFE branch before March 31, 2006. Circular 75 further requires amendment to the registration in the event of any significant changes with respect to the offshore special purpose company, such as increase or decrease of capital, equity investment or, including an initial public offering by such company.

 

Prior to this offering, all ultimate shareholders of our company who are PRC residents have filed or updated their foreign exchange registrations with the Beijing Office of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange with respect to their direct or indirect holding of shares in our company. After this offering, all of our ultimate shareholders who are PRC residents are also required to amend the foreign exchange registration again in accordance with Circular 75. However, we cannot assure you that all of them will continue to take necessary actions to amend their foreign exchange registrations with SAFE in full compliance with Circular 75 after this offering. In addition, the application to amend foreign exchange registrations with SAFE may take a long time and is subject to SAFE’s discretion on when and whether to approve such application, if at all. Failure or inability of our PRC resident shareholders to comply with the registration requirements set forth in Circular 75 may subject these PRC resident shareholders to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiary, limit the ability of our PRC subsidiary to distribute dividends to us, make other distributions or otherwise adversely affect our business.

 

Governmental control of currency conversion may affect the value of your investment.

 

Under the PRC law, Renminbi is freely convertible to foreign currencies with respect to “current account” transactions, but not with respect to “capital account” transactions. We receive all our revenues in Renminbi. Under our current corporate structure, our income is primarily derived from dividend payments from our PRC subsidiary. Shortages in the availability of foreign currency may restrict the ability of our PRC subsidiary to remit sufficient foreign currency to pay dividends or other payments to us, or otherwise satisfy its foreign currency-denominated obligations. Approval or registration from SAFE or its local branch is required where Renminbi is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may also exercise its discretion to restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currency to satisfy our currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.

 

Fluctuations in exchange rates of the Renminbi could materially affect our reported results of operations.

 

The exchange rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar, Euro and other foreign currencies are affected by, among other things, changes in China’s political and economic conditions. On July 21, 2005, the PRC government changed its decade-old policy of pegging the value of the Renminbi to the U.S. dollar. Under the new policy, the Renminbi is permitted to fluctuate within a narrow and managed band against a basket of foreign

currencies. This change in policy has resulted in a significant appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar. There remains significant international pressure on the PRC government to adopt a more flexible currency policy, which could result in a further and more significant appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar. On June 20, 2010, the People’s Bank of China announced that the PRC government would further reform the Renminbi exchange rate regime and increase the flexibility of the exchange rate. Since then, the average exchange rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar have slightly gone up, but it is difficult to predict how this new policy may impact the Renminbi exchange rate in the future.

 

As we may rely on dividends and other fees paid to us by our subsidiary and special purpose entities in China, any significant revaluation of the Renminbi may materially and adversely affect our cash flows, revenues, earnings and financial position, and the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. dollars. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we receive from our initial public offering into Renminbi for our operations, appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the Renminbi amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert our Renminbi into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares or ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Renminbi would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount available to us. In addition, since the functional currency of our holding company, Bitauto Holdings Limited, is the U.S. dollar while the functional currency of our PRC subsidiary and PRC SPEs is the Renminbi, appreciation or depreciation in the value of the Renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar would have a positive or negative effect on our reported financial results, which may not reflect any underlying change in our business, results of operations or financial position.

 

PRC regulations on loans and direct investments by offshore holding companies to PRC entities may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds from this offering.

 

In utilizing the proceeds from this offering, as an offshore holding company of our PRC subsidiary, we may make loans to our PRC subsidiary and SPEs, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary. Such loans to our subsidiary or SPEs in China and capital contributions are subject to PRC regulations and approvals. For example, loans by us to BBII cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with SAFE, or its local branch. Besides SAFE registration, loans to SPEs may also need government approval. Capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary must be approved by the PRC Ministry of Commerce or its local counterpart. In addition, the PRC government also restricts the convertibility of foreign currencies into Renminbi and use of the proceeds. On August 29, 2008, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, promulgated Circular 142, a notice regulating the conversion by a foreign-invested company of foreign currency into Renminbi by restricting how the converted Renminbi may be used. The circular requires that Renminbi converted from the foreign currency-denominated capital of a foreign-invested company may only be used for purposes within the business scope approved by the applicable governmental authority and may not be used for equity investments in the PRC unless otherwise provided by laws and regulations. In addition, SAFE strengthened its oversight of the flow and use of Renminbi funds converted from the foreign currency denominated capital of a foreign-invested company. The use of such Renminbi may not be changed without approval from SAFE, and may not be used to repay Renminbi loans if the proceeds of such loans have not yet been used for purposes within the company’s approved business scope. Violations of Circular 142 may result in severe penalties, including substantial fines as set forth in the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations.

 

We cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiary or with respect to future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiary. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to contribute additional capital to fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could adversely and materially affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

 

Dividends we receive from our subsidiary located in the PRC may be subject to PRC withholding tax, which could materially and adversely affect the amount of dividends, if any, we may pay our shareholders or ADS holders.

 

The PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, classifies enterprises as resident enterprises and non-resident enterprises. The EIT Law provides that an income tax rate of 20% may be applicable to dividends payable

to non-resident investors, which (i) do not have an establishment or place of business in the PRC or (ii) have an establishment or place of business in the PRC but the relevant income is not effectively connected with the establishment or place of business, to the extent such dividends are derived from sources within the PRC. The State Council of the PRC reduced such rate to 10% through the implementation regulations of the EIT Law. Further, pursuant to the Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement between Hong Kong and Mainland China and the Notice on Certain Issues with Respect to the Enforcement of Dividend Provisions in Tax Treaties issued on February 20, 2009 by the State Administration of Taxation, if the Hong Kong resident enterprise owns more than 25% of the equity interest in a company in China incessantly within 12 months immediately prior to obtaining dividend from such company, the 10% withholding tax on the dividends the Hong Kong resident enterprise received from such company in China is reduced to 5%. We are a Cayman Island holding company and we have a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong which in turn holds 100% of the equity interest of BBII. Substantially all of our income may be derived from dividends we receive from our subsidiary located in the PRC. If we and our Hong Kong subsidiary are considered as non-resident enterprises and our Hong Kong subsidiary is considered as a Hong Kong resident enterprise under the Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement, then the dividends paid to our Hong Kong subsidiary by BBII may be subject to the reduced income tax rate of 5% under the Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement. However, based on the Notice on Certain Issues with Respect to the Enforcement of Dividend Provisions in Tax Treaties, if the relevant PRC tax authorities determine, in their discretion, that a company benefits from such reduced income tax rate due to a structure or arrangement that is primarily tax-driven, such PRC tax authorities may adjust the preferential tax treatment; and based on the Notice on the Comprehension and Recognition of Beneficial Owner in Tax Treaties issued on October 27, 2009 by the State Administration of Taxation, funnel companies, which are established for the purpose of evading or reducing tax, transferring or accumulating profits, shall not be recognized as beneficial owner and thus are not entitled to the abovementioned reduced income tax rate of 5% under the Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement. If we are required under the EIT Law to pay income tax for any dividends we receive from our subsidiary in China, or if our Hong Kong subsidiary is determined by PRC government authority as receiving benefits from reduced income tax rate due to a structure or arrangement that is primarily tax-driven, it would materially and adversely affect the amount of dividends, if any, we may pay to our shareholders and ADS holders.

 

Under the EIT Law, we may be classified as a “resident enterprise” of China; such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders and materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

 

Under the EIT Law, an enterprise established outside of China with “de facto management body” within China is considered a “resident enterprise”, meaning that it can be treated in a manner similar to a Chinese enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes. The implementing rules of the EIT Law define “de facto management body” as “substantial and overall management and control over the production and operations, personnel, accounting, and properties” of the enterprise.

 

If the PRC tax authorities determine that our Cayman Islands company is a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, a number of PRC tax consequences could follow. First, we may be subject to the enterprise income tax at a rate of 25% on our worldwide taxable income as well as PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations; in our case, this would mean that income such as interest on offering proceeds and other income sourced from outside the PRC would be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%. Second, the EIT Law provides that dividend paid between “qualified resident enterprises” is exempt from enterprise income tax. It is unclear whether the dividends we receive from BBII will constitute dividends between “qualified resident enterprises” and would therefore qualify for tax exemption, because the definition of qualified resident enterprises is unclear and the relevant PRC government authorities have not yet issued guidance with respect to the processing of outbound remittances to entities that are treated as resident enterprises for PRC enterprise income tax purposes.

 

In addition to the uncertainty as to the application of the “resident enterprise” classification, there can be no assurance that the PRC Government will not amend or revise the taxation laws, rules and regulations to impose stricter tax requirements, higher tax rates or retroactively apply the EIT Law, or any subsequent changes in PRC tax laws, rules or regulations. If such changes occur and/or if such changes are applied retroactively, such changes could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Discontinuation of any of the preferential tax treatments currently available to us in the PRC or imposition of any additional PRC taxes on us could adversely affect our financial position and results of operations.

 

In 2009, the State Taxation Bureau of the Haidian District of Beijing issued an enterprise income tax reduction and exemption record registration notice. Pursuant to such notice, BBII is entitled to a three-year 50% reduction of the 15% EIT rate for a tax rate of 7.5% for each of 2009, 2010 and 2011.

 

In May 2010, the State Administration of Taxation of China, or SAT, issued a Circular on Further Clarification Concerning the Implementation Standards of Corporate Income Tax Incentives in Grandfathering Period, or Circular 157, stating that enterprises recognized as “high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state” and eligible to enjoy the grandfathering treatments such as a two-year exemption from enterprise income tax followed by a three-year half reduction of enterprise income tax under a 2007 circular No. 39, or Circular 39, may choose the reduced tax rate of 15% applicable to “high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state” or the tax exemption/reduction based on the tax rates in the grandfathering period as stated in Circular 39. Enterprises are not allowed the 50% reduction based on the preferential tax rate for “high and new technology enterprises strongly supported by the state” of 15%. Circular 157 applies retroactively from January 1, 2008.

 

If Circular 157 is determined to be applicable to our subsidiary that is recognized as a “high and new technology enterprise strongly supported by the state,” the applicable income tax rate for Beijing BitAuto Internet Information Company Limited, or BBII, may be 10% and 11% for 2009 and 2010, respectively. As the relevant PRC governmental regulatory authorities have not yet issued any specific guidance regarding the application procedures for Circular 157, there is still uncertainty as to the practical application of Circular 157 to BBII as well as the consequential financial implication.

 

Preferential tax treatment granted to our subsidiary by the local governmental authorities is subject to review and may be adjusted or revoked at any time. The discontinuation of any preferential tax treatments currently available to us and our wholly-owned subsidiary will cause our effective tax rate to increase, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain our current effective tax rate in the future.

 

Certain of our leased property interests may be defective and we may be forced to relocate operations affected by such defects, which could cause significant disruption to our business.

 

As of September 30, 2010, we had leased properties in 48 cities in China. With respect to 13 of these leased properties, the lessors failed to provide property title certificates or other legal instruments proving the title ownership of these lessors. According to PRC laws, rules and regulations, in situations where a tenant lacks evidence of the landlord’s title or right to lease, the relevant lease agreement may not be valid or enforceable under PRC laws, rules and regulations, and may also be subject to challenge by third parties. However, we cannot assure you that such defects will be cured in a timely manner or at all. Our business may be interrupted and additional relocation costs may be incurred if we are required to relocate operations affected by such defects. Moreover, if our lease agreements are challenged by third parties, it could result in diversion of management attention and cause us to incur costs associated with defending such actions, even if such challenges are ultimately determined in our favor. In addition, certain lease agreements have not been registered with competent governmental authority. However, according to PRC laws, rules and regulations, the failure to register the lease agreement will not affect its effectiveness between the tenant and the landlord, however, such lease agreement may be subject to challenge by and unenforceable against a third party who leases the same property from the landlord and has duly registered the lease with the competent PRC government authority. Furthermore, the landlord and the tenant may be subject to administrative fines for such failure to register the lease.

 

Failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock ownership plans or share option plans may subject our PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

 

Under relevant PRC rules and regulations, PRC citizens who are granted stock options by an overseas publicly listed company are required, through a qualified PRC domestic agent or PRC subsidiary of such overseas

publicly-listed company, to register with SAFE and complete certain other procedures. We and our PRC citizen employees who have been granted stock options will be subject to this rule after this offering. If we or our PRC citizen employees granted our stock options fail to comply with these regulations, we or such employees may be subject to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions. Also see “Regulation — Regulations on Employee Stock Options Granted by Listed Companies.”

 

The implementation of the PRC Labor Contract Law may significantly increase our operating expenses and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

 

On June 29, 2007, the PRC National People’s Congress enacted the Labor Contract Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008. The Labor Contract Law formalizes workers’ rights concerning overtime hours, pensions, layoffs, employment contracts and the role of trade unions and provides for specific standards and procedure for the termination of an employment contract. In addition, the Labor Contract Law requires the payment of a statutory severance pay upon the termination of an employment contract in most cases, including in cases of the expiration of a fixed-term employment contract. As there has been little guidance as to how the Labor Contract Law will be interpreted and enforced by the relevant PRC authorities, there remains substantial uncertainty as to its potential impact on our business and results of operations. The implementation of the Labor Contract Law may significantly increase our operating expenses, in particular our personnel expenses, as the continued success of our business depends significantly on our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. In the event that we decide to terminate some of our employees or otherwise change our employment or labor practices, the Labor Contract Law may also limit our ability to effect these changes in a manner that we believe to be cost-effective or desirable, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

 

Risks Related to Our ADSs and This Offering

 

There has been no public market for our shares or ADSs prior to this offering and you may not be able to resell our ADSs at or above the price you paid, or at all.

 

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our shares or ADSs. We have applied to list the ADSs on the NYSE. Our shares will not be listed on any exchange or quoted for trading on any over-the-counter trading system. If an active trading market for our ADSs does not develop after this offering, the market price and liquidity of our ADSs will be materially and adversely affected.

 

Negotiations with the underwriters will determine the initial public offering price for our ADSs, which may bear no relationship to their market price after this offering. We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our ADSs will develop or that the market price of our ADSs will remain at or above the initial public offering price.

 

The market price for our ADSs may be volatile.

 

The market price for our ADSs is likely to be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors including the following:

 

 

 

In addition, the securities market has experienced significant price and volume fluctuations unrelated to the operating performance of any particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our ADSs.

 

You will experience immediate and substantial dilution because our initial public offering price is substantially higher than our net tangible book value per share.

 

If you purchase ADSs in this offering, you will pay more for your ADSs than the amount paid by our existing shareholders for their shares on a per ADS basis. As a result, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution of approximately $8.32 per ADS, representing the difference between the assumed initial public offering price of $11.00 per ADS, the midpoint of the estimated range of the initial public offering price, and our net tangible book value per ADS as of September 30, 2010, after giving effect to the automatic conversion of our preference shares, immediately prior to the completion of this offering and net proceeds to us from this offering (assuming that the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs). In addition, you may experience further dilution to the extent that our shares are issued upon the exercise of share options.

 

We may need additional capital, and the sale of additional ADSs or other equity securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders.

 

We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents, anticipated cash flow from operations and the proceeds from this offering will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for the foreseeable future. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain a credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. It is uncertain whether financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

 

Because we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future after this offering, you must rely on price appreciation of our ADSs for return on your investment.

 

We intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and earnings after this offering to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in our ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.

 

Our board of directors has significant discretion as to whether to distribute dividends. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on, among other things, our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial position, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in our ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that our ADSs will appreciate in value after this offering or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in our ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in our ADSs.

Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales of our ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

 

Sales of our ADSs or ordinary shares in the public market after this offering, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our ADSs to decline. Upon completion of this offering, we will have 41,253,390 ordinary shares outstanding, including 10,600,000 ordinary shares represented by ADSs, assuming that the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. All ADSs sold in this offering will be freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act, unless held by our “affiliates” as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act. The remaining ordinary shares outstanding after this offering will be available for sale, upon the expiration of the 180-day lock-up period beginning from the date of this prospectus, subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. Any or all of these shares may be released prior to the expiration of the lock-up period at the discretion of the representatives. To the extent shares are released before the expiration of the lock-up period and sold into the market, the market price of our ADSs could decline.

 

Upon completion of this offering, certain holders of our ordinary shares will have the right to cause us to register under the Securities Act the sale of their shares, subject to the 180-day lock-up period in connection with this offering. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in ADSs representing these shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of the registration. Sales of these registered shares in the form of ADSs, in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

 

You may not have the same voting rights as the holders of our ordinary shares and may not receive voting materials in time to be able to exercise your right to vote.

 

Except as described in this prospectus and in the deposit agreement, holders of our ADSs will not be able to exercise voting rights attaching to the shares represented by our ADSs on an individual basis. Holders of our ADSs will appoint the depositary or its nominee as their representative to exercise the voting rights attaching to the shares represented by the ADSs. You may not receive voting materials in time to instruct the depositary to vote, and it is possible that you, or persons who hold their ADSs through brokers, dealers or other third parties, will not have the opportunity to exercise a right to vote. Upon our written request, the depositary will mail to you a shareholder meeting notice which contains, among other things, a statement as to the manner in which your voting instructions may be given, including an express indication that such instructions may be given or deemed given to the depositary to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us if no instructions are received by the depositary from you on or before the response date established by the depositary. However, no voting instruction shall be deemed given and no such discretionary proxy shall be given with respect to any matter as to which we inform the depositary that (i) we do not wish such proxy given, (ii) substantial opposition exists, or (iii) such matter materially and adversely affects the rights of shareholders. In addition, the depositary and its agents may not be able to send voting instructions to you or carry out your voting instructions in a timely manner. We will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to you in a timely manner, but we cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote your ADSs. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, you may not be able to exercise your right to vote and you may lack recourse if your ADSs are not voted as you requested. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting. See “Description of American Depositary Shares.”

 

You may not be able to participate in rights offerings and may experience dilution of your holdings as a result.

 

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make rights available to you in the United States unless we register both the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not make rights available to you unless both the rights

and the underlying securities to be distributed to ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective and we may not be able to establish a necessary exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution in your holdings.

 

You may not receive cash dividends if it is impracticable to make them available to you.

 

The depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide that it is inequitable or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property to you.

 

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

 

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

 

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the United States federal courts may be limited because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law, we conduct substantially all of our operations in China and all of our directors and officers reside outside the United States.

 

We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands and conduct substantially all of our operations in China through our PRC subsidiaries. All of our directors and officers reside outside the United States and a substantial portion of their assets are located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the Cayman Islands or in China in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of China may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers. There is no statutory recognition in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, although the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize as a valid judgment, a final and conclusive judgment in personam obtained in a federal or state court of the United States under which a sum of money is payable (other than a sum of money payable in respect of multiple damages, taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty) and would give a judgment based thereon; provided that (a) such courts had proper jurisdiction over the parties subject to such judgment; (b) such courts did not contravene the rules of natural justice of the Cayman Islands; (c) such judgment was not obtained by fraud; (d) the enforcement of the judgment would not be contrary to the public policy of the Cayman Islands; (e) no new admissible evidence relevant to the action is submitted prior to the rendering of the judgment by the courts of the Cayman Islands; and (f) there is due compliance with the correct procedures under the laws of the Cayman Islands. For more information regarding the relevant laws of the Cayman Islands and China, see “Enforceability of Civil Liabilities.”

 

Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, as amended and restated from time to time, and by the Companies Law and common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take legal action against us and our directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, which provides persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as

clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedents in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States and provides significantly less protection. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in United States federal courts.

 

As a result, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests through actions against us, our management, our directors or our major shareholders than would shareholders of a corporation incorporated in a jurisdiction in the United States.

 

You must rely on the judgment of our management as to the use of the net proceeds from this offering, and such use may not produce income or increase our ADS price.

 

We have not allocated a significant portion of the net proceeds of this offering to any particular purpose. Rather, our management will have considerable discretion in the application of the net proceeds received by us. You will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment decision, to assess whether proceeds are being used appropriately. You must rely on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds of this offering. The net proceeds may be used for corporate purposes that do not improve our efforts to maintain profitability or increase our ADS price. The net proceeds from this offering may be placed in investments that do not produce income or that lose value.

 

Our memorandum and articles of association will contain anti-takeover provisions that could adversely affect the rights of holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs.

 

We will amend and restate our memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately upon the completion of this offering. Our new memorandum and articles of association will contain certain provisions that could limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company, including a provision that grants authority to our board of directors to establish from time to time one or more series of preference shares without action by our shareholders and to determine, with respect to any series of preference shares, the terms and rights of that series. The provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of the opportunity to sell their shares, including shares represented by ADSs, at a premium over the prevailing market price by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transactions.

 

We are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements of the NYSE and we intend to rely on these exemptions.

 

We are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements of the NYSE by virtue of being a foreign private issuer. We are required to provide a brief description of the significant differences between our corporate governance practices and the corporate governance practices required to be followed by U.S. domestic companies under the NYSE rules. The standards applicable to us are considerably different than the standards applied to U.S. domestic issuers. The significantly different standards applicable to us do not require us to:

 

 

 

We currently intend to rely on all such exemptions provided by the NYSE to a foreign private issuer, except that we have adopted and disclosed a code of business conduct and ethics for directors, officers and employees, and that we will seek shareholder approval for the implementation of share incentive plans and for the increase in the number of shares available to be granted under share incentive plans and adopt corporate governance guidelines. As a result, you may not be provided with the benefits of certain corporate governance requirements of the NYSE.

 

We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company for United States federal income tax purposes, which could subject United States investors in the ADSs or ordinary shares to significant adverse United States federal income tax consequences.

 

Depending upon the value of our ordinary shares and ADSs and the nature of our assets and income over time, we could be classified as a “passive foreign investment company,” or PFIC, for United States federal income tax purposes. A non-United States corporation will be treated as a PFIC for any taxable year if either (i) 75% or more of its gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income, or (ii) 50% or more of the value of its assets (determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income, or the asset test. Passive income is any income that would be foreign personal holding company income under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, including, without limitation, dividends, interest, royalties, rents, annuities, net gains from the sale or exchange of property producing such income, net gains from commodity transactions, net foreign currency gains and income from notional principal contracts. Although the law in this regard is unclear, we treat Beijing Bitauto Information Technology Company Limited, or BBIT, Beijing C&I Advertising Company Limited, or CIG, and Beijing Easy Auto Media Co., Ltd., or BEAM, as being owned by us for United States federal income tax purposes, not only because we exercise effective control over the operation of such entities but also because we are entitled to substantially all of their economic benefits, and, as a result, we consolidate their results of operations into our consolidated financial statements. Assuming that we are the owner of such entities for United States federal income tax purposes, based on our current income and assets and projections as to the value of our ordinary shares and ADSs pursuant to this offering, we do not expect to be classified as a PFIC for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future. While we do not anticipate becoming a PFIC, because the value of our assets for purposes of the asset test will generally be determined by reference to the market price of our ADSs or ordinary shares, fluctuations in the market price of our ADSs or ordinary shares may cause us to become a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years. Because there are uncertainties in the application of the relevant rules and PFIC status is a factual determination made annually after the close of each taxable year on the basis of the composition of our income and the value of our active versus passive assets, there can be no assurance that we will not be a PFIC for the current taxable year or any future taxable year. We have not sought a ruling from the United States Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, with respect to our PFIC status, and there can be no assurance that the IRS will agree with our determination. The overall level of our passive assets will be affected by (i) future growth in activities that may potentially produce passive income, and (ii) how, and how quickly, we spend our liquid assets, including the cash raised in this offering. Under circumstances where revenues from activities that produce passive income significantly increase relative to our revenues from activities that produce non-passive income or where we determine not to deploy significant amounts of cash for active purposes, our risk of becoming classified as a PFIC may substantially increase. If it were determined, however, that we are not the owner of BBIT, CIG and BEAM for United States federal income tax purposes, we would likely be treated as a PFIC for our current taxable year and any subsequent taxable year.

 

If we were to be classified as a PFIC, a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Taxation — Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — General”) may incur significantly increased United States income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on the ADSs or ordinary shares to the extent such gain or distribution is treated as an “excess distribution” under the United

States federal income tax rules. Further, if we are classified as a PFIC for any year during which a U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or ordinary shares, we generally will continue to be treated as a PFIC for all succeeding years during which such U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or ordinary shares. We urge you to consult your tax advisor concerning the United States federal income tax consequences of acquiring, holding and disposing of ADSs or ordinary shares if we are classified as a PFIC. For more information, see “Taxation — Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — Passive Foreign Investment Company Considerations.”

 

Our independent registered public accounting firm has identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to correct these weaknesses, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results or prevent fraud may be adversely affected, and investor confidence and the market price of our securities may be adversely affected.

 

Prior to this offering, we have been a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources for addressing our internal control over financial reporting. In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements and interim financial statements included in this prospectus, our independent registered public accounting firm identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, as defined in the standards established by the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The material weaknesses identified were: (i) insufficient IFRS qualified accounting, tax and finance personnel, and (ii) insufficient detailed oversight and review of the financial statement close and reporting process from management.

 

Upon the completion of this offering, we will become a public company in the United States that will be subject to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, and applicable rules and regulations thereunder. We will continue to implement measures to remedy these material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in order to meet the deadline imposed by Section 404. However, if we fail to timely achieve and maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, we may not be able to conclude that we have effective internal control over financial reporting. As a result, our failure to achieve and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in the loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which in turn could harm our business and negatively impact the market price of our ADSs.

 

Compliance with rules and requirements applicable to public companies may cause us to incur additional costs, and any failure by us to comply with such rules and requirements could negatively affect investor confidence in us and cause the market price of our securities to decline.

 

As a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules adopted by the SEC and the NYSE, has required changes in the corporate governance practices of public companies. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs and to make certain corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. Complying with these rules and requirements may be especially difficult and costly for us because we may have difficulty locating sufficient personnel in China with experience and expertise relating to IFRS and United States public company reporting requirements, and such personnel may command high salaries. If we cannot employ sufficient personnel to ensure compliance with these rules and regulations, we may need to rely more on outside legal, accounting and financial experts, which may be very costly. In addition, we will incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. We cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

 

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. The forward looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Use of Proceeds,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business.” Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those listed under “Risk Factors,” may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

 

You can identify some of these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial position, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to:

 

 

These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may later be found to be incorrect. Our actual results could be materially different from our expectations. Important risks and factors that could cause our actual results to be materially different from our expectations are generally set forth in “Prospectus Summary — Our Challenges,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Business,” “Regulation” and other sections in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and the documents that we refer to in this prospectus and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

 

The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this prospectus. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Market Data and Forecasts

 

Unless otherwise indicated, information in this prospectus concerning economic conditions and our industry is based on information from independent industry analysts and publications, as well as our estimates. Except where otherwise noted, our estimates are derived from publicly available information released by third-party sources, as well as data from our internal research, and are based on such data and our knowledge of our industry, which we believe to be reasonable.

 

This prospectus also contains data related to the global and Chinese automotive industry and Internet marketing industry. These market data include estimates and projections that are based on a number of assumptions. If any one or more of the assumptions underlying the market data turn out to be incorrect, actual results may differ significantly from the projections. For example, the global and Chinese Internet markets may not grow at the rate projected by market data, or at all. In addition, the rapidly changing nature of the automotive industry and Internet marketing industry subjects any projections or estimates relating to the growth prospects or future condition of our market to significant uncertainties.

 

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from this offering of approximately $88.8 million, or approximately $102.6 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs in full, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us. These estimates are based upon an assumed initial public offering price of $11.00 per ADS, the midpoint of the range shown on the front cover page of this prospectus. A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $11.00 per ADS would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by $8.4 million, assuming the number of ADSs offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us. We will not receive any proceeds from the ADSs sold by the selling shareholders.

 

We plan to use the net proceeds of this offering as follows:

 

 

 

 

The foregoing represents our current intentions based upon our present plans and business conditions to use and allocate the net proceeds of this offering. Our management, however, will have significant flexibility and discretion to use and allocate the net proceeds of this offering. If an unforeseen event occurs or business conditions change, we may use the proceeds of this offering differently than as described in this prospectus. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our ADSs and This Offering — You must rely on the judgment of our management as to the use of the net proceeds from this offering, and such use may not produce income or increase our ADS price.”

 

Pending any use of the net proceeds, as described above, we plan to invest the net proceeds in short-term, interest-bearing debt instruments or bank deposits. These investments may materially and adversely affect the United States federal income tax consequences of your investment in our ADSs. In particular, it is possible that we may become a passive foreign investment company for United States federal income tax purposes, which could result in negative tax consequences for you. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our ADSs and This Offering — We may be classified as a passive foreign investment company for United States federal income tax purposes, which could subject United States investors in the ADSs or ordinary shares to significant adverse United States federal income tax consequences.” and “Taxation — Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — Passive Foreign Investment Company Considerations.”

 

In using the proceeds from this offering, as an offshore holding company, we are permitted, under PRC laws and regulations, to provide funding to our PRC subsidiary only through loans or capital contributions. Subject to satisfaction of applicable government registration and approval requirements, we may extend inter-company loans to our PRC subsidiary or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary to fund their capital expenditures or working capital. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain these government registrations or approvals on a timely basis, if at all. See “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Doing Business in China — PRC regulations on loans and direct investments by offshore holding companies to PRC entities may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds from this offering.”

 

We are a Cayman Islands holding company and substantially all of our operations are conducted through our PRC subsidiary, BBII, and our SPEs. We rely principally on dividends paid to us by our PRC subsidiary for our cash requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders, service any debt we may incur and pay our operating expenses. In China, the payment of dividends is subject to certain limitations. PRC regulations currently permit payment of dividends only out of accumulated profits as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, foreign-invested enterprises in China are required to allocate at least 10% of its after-tax profit based PRC accounting standards to its statutory general reserves each year until the accumulative amount of the reserves reaches 50% of its registered capital. BBII, as a foreign-invested enterprise, is required to set aside funds for employee bonus and welfare fund from its after-tax profits each year at percentages determined at its sole discretion. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends.

 

BBII has generated losses in each of the periods since its inception as determined pursuant to PRC accounting standards. Therefore, BBII currently has no accumulated profits as determined pursuant to PRC accounting standards and has not recorded any statutory reserves. As a result, we currently are not able to pay dividend.

 

In addition, we do not have any present plan to pay cash dividends on our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future after this offering. We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to operate and expand our business.

 

Our board of directors has significant discretion on whether to distribute dividends. Even if our board of directors decides to pay dividends, the form, frequency and amount will depend upon our future operations and earnings, capital requirements and surplus, general financial position, contractual restrictions and other factors that the board of directors may deem relevant. If we pay any dividends, the depositary will distribute such payments to our ADS holders to the same extent as holders of our ordinary shares, subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, including the fees and expenses payable thereunder. See “Description of American Depositary Shares.” Cash dividends on our ordinary shares, if any, will be paid in U.S. dollars.

 

The following table sets forth our capitalization as of September 30, 2010:

 

 

 

You should read this table together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus and the information under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

 

 

 

 

If you invest in our ADSs, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per ADS and our net tangible book value per ADS after this offering. Dilution results from the conversion of our preference shares and the fact that the initial public offering price per ordinary share is substantially in excess of the book value per share attributable to the existing shareholders for our presently outstanding ordinary shares.

 

Net tangible book value represents the amount of our total consolidated tangible assets, which represent the amount of our total consolidated assets, excluding intangible assets, deferred tax assets and capitalized IPO transaction costs of approximately RMB8.1 million ($1.2 million). Our net tangible book value as of September 30, 2010 was a deficit of approximately $169 million, or $13.53 per ordinary share and $13.53 per ADS as of that date. We incurred the deficit primarily because the fair values of our preference shares are carried as liabilities under IFRS, and such fair values have increased significantly over the years resulting from our improved business outlook. Dilution is determined by subtracting net tangible book value per ordinary share, after giving effect to the conversion of all outstanding preference shares into ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering and the additional proceeds we will receive from this offering, from the assumed initial public offering price per ordinary share, which is the midpoint of the estimated initial public offering price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus adjusted to reflect the ADS-to-ordinary share ratio, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

 

Without taking into account any other changes in net tangible book value after September 30, 2010, other than to give effect to the conversion of all outstanding preference shares into ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering and our sale of the ADSs offered in this offering at the assumed initial public offering price of $11.00 per ADS, which is the mid-point of the estimated public offering price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, after deduction of the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of September 30, 2010 would have been $110.4 million, or $2.68 per outstanding ordinary share and $2.68 per ADS. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of $2.05 per ordinary share and $2.05 per ADS to the existing shareholders and an immediate dilution in pro forma net tangible book value of $8.32 per ordinary share and $8.32 per ADS to investors purchasing ADSs in this offering. The following table illustrates such dilution:

 

 

The amount of dilution in net tangible book value to new investors in this offering set forth above is calculated by deducting (i) the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after giving effect to the automatic conversion of our preference shares and this offering from (ii) the assumed initial public offering price.

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma basis as of September 30, 2010, the differences between existing shareholders, including holders of our preference shares that will be automatically converted into ordinary shares immediately upon the completion of this offering, and the new investors with respect to the number of ordinary shares (in the form of ADSs or shares) purchased from us, the total consideration paid and the average price per ordinary share/ADS paid before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The total number of ordinary shares does not include ordinary shares underlying the ADSs issuable upon the exercise of the option to purchase additional ADSs granted to the underwriters.

 

 

 

 

A $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of $11.00 per ADS would increase (decrease) our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS after giving effect to the automatic conversion of our preference shares and this offering by $0.20 per ordinary share and $0.20 per ADS, and the dilution in our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS to new investors in this offering by $0.80 per ordinary share and $0.80 per ADS, assuming no change to the number of ADSs offered by us as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us in connection with this offering.

 

The pro forma information discussed above is illustrative only. Our net tangible book value following the completion of this offering is subject to adjustment based on the actual initial public offering price of our ADSs and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

 

The discussion and tables above also assume no exercise of any outstanding share options. As of the date of this prospectus, there were 2,178,750 ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding share options at a weighted average exercise price of $3.08 per share, and there were 970,900 ordinary shares available for future issuance upon the exercise of future grants under the 2006 Plan and the 2010 Plan. To the extent that any of these options are exercised, there will be further dilution to new investors.

 

We conduct substantially all of our operations in China. A substantial portion of our sales and our costs and expenses are denominated in Renminbi. We make no representation that any Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate, at the rates stated below, or at all. The PRC government imposes control over its foreign currency reserves in part through direct regulation of the conversion of Renminbi into foreign exchange and through restrictions on foreign trade. On October 29, 2010, the noon buying rate was RMB6.6705 to $1.00.

 

The following table sets forth information concerning exchange rates between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar for the periods indicated. These rates are provided solely for your convenience and are not necessarily the exchange rates that we used in this prospectus or will use in the preparation of our periodic reports or any other information to be provided to you. For all dates and periods through December 31, 2008, exchange rates of Renminbi into the U.S. dollar are based on the noon buying rate in The City of New York for cable transfers of Renminbi as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For January 1, 2009 and all later dates and periods, the exchange rate refers to the exchange rate as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this prospectus were made at a rate of RMB6.6905 to $1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on September 30, 2010.

 

 

 

Source: Federal Reserve Statistical Release

 

 

We were incorporated in the Cayman Islands in order to enjoy certain benefits, such as political and economic stability, an effective judicial system, a favorable tax system, the absence of exchange control or currency restrictions and the availability of professional and support services. However, certain disadvantages accompany incorporation in the Cayman Islands. These disadvantages include a less developed body of Cayman Islands securities laws that provide significantly less protection to investors compared to the laws of the United States, and the potential lack of standing by Cayman Islands companies to sue before the federal courts of the United States.

 

Our organizational documents do not contain provisions requiring disputes, including those arising under the securities laws of the United States, between us and our officers, directors and shareholders, be arbitrated.

 

We conduct substantially all of our operations in China, and substantially all of our assets are located in China. Some of our directors and officers are nationals or residents of jurisdictions other than the United States and a substantial portion of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for a shareholder to effect service of process within the United States upon us or these persons, or to enforce against us or them judgments obtained in United States courts, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

 

We have appointed Law Debenture Corporate Services, Inc. as our agent upon whom process may be served in any action brought against us under the securities laws of the United States.

 

Conyers Dill & Pearman, our counsel as to Cayman Islands law, and Han Kun Law Offices, our counsel as to PRC law, have advised us, respectively, that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands and China, respectively, would:

 

 

Conyers Dill & Pearman has further advised us that the courts of the Cayman Islands would recognize as a valid judgment, a final and conclusive judgment in personam obtained in a federal or state court of the United States under which a sum of money is payable (other than a sum of money payable in respect of multiple damages, taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty) and would give a judgment based thereon; provided that (a) such courts had proper jurisdiction over the parties subject to such judgment; (b) such courts did not contravene the rules of natural justice of the Cayman Islands; (c) such judgment was not obtained by fraud; (d) the enforcement of the judgment would not be contrary to the public policy of the Cayman Islands; (e) no new admissible evidence relevant to the action is submitted prior to the rendering of the judgment by the courts of the Cayman Islands; and (f) there is due compliance with the correct procedures under the laws of the Cayman Islands.

 

Han Kun Law Offices has further advised us that the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. China does not have any treaties or other form of reciprocity with the United States that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, courts in the PRC will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our directors and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC law or national sovereignty, security or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States.

 

The following selected consolidated financial data for the periods and as of the dates indicated should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

Our selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data presented below for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and our selected consolidated statements of financial position data as of December 31, 2008 and 2009 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our audited consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with IFRS and have been audited by Ernst & Young Hua Ming, an independent registered public accounting firm. The report of Ernst & Young Hua Ming on those consolidated financial statements is included elsewhere in this prospectus. We have not included financial information for the years ended December 31, 2005 and 2006, as such information is not available on a basis that is consistent with the consolidated financial information for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2008 and 2009, and cannot be provided on an IFRS basis without unreasonable effort or expense.

 

Our selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2010 and the selected consolidated statements of financial position data as of September 30, 2010 have been derived from our unaudited interim financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus and have been prepared on the same basis as our audited consolidated financial data. The unaudited interim financial information includes all adjustments, consisting only of normal and recurring adjustments that we consider necessary for a fair presentation of our financial position and results of operations for the periods presented. Our unaudited results for the nine months ended September 30, 2010 may not be indicative of our results for the full year ending December 31, 2010. Our historical results do not necessarily indicate results expected for any future periods.