China Automotive Systems Announces Hearing on February 5, 2021 on Proposal to Settle Stockholder Derivative Lawsuit

WUHAN, China, Dec. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- China Automotive Systems, Inc. CAAS ("CAAS" or the "Company"), a leading power steering components and systems supplier in China, today announced that a settlement hearing will be held on February 5, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. EST at the Court of Chancery in the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center, 500 North King Street, Wilmington, DE 19801.

The purpose of the hearing is to determine among other things, (i) whether the proposed Stipulation of Settlement ("Settlement") should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate; (ii) whether the Action should be dismissed with prejudice and the releases specified and described in the Settlement (and in the Long-Form Notice) should be granted; and (iii) whether Plaintiffs' Counsel's application for an award of attorneys' fees and reimbursement of litigation expenses should be approved.

If the Settlement is approved by the Court, no further action is required by current CAAS stockholders. Because the Settlement is non-monetary, CAAS stockholders do not have to submit a claim form or take any other action in connection with the Settlement. Management expects the impact of the suit on the Company's consolidated financial statements to be immaterial.

Any objections to the proposed Settlement and/or Plaintiffs' Counsel's application for an award of attorneys' fees and reimbursement of litigation expenses, must be filed with the Register in Chancery and delivered to Plaintiffs' Counsel and Defendants' counsel and received no later than January 26, 2021, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Long-Form Notice.

Plaintiffs' Counsel is Eric L. Zagar, Esq., Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, 280 King of Prussia Road, Radnor, PA 19087.  Defendants' counsel is c/o Winston & Strawn LLP, 42nd Floor, Bank of China Tower, 1 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong.

On January 7, 2019, three purported stockholders of the Company filed a stockholder derivative complaint on behalf of the Company against the Company's directors Hanlin Chen, Qizhou Wu and Guangxun Xu and former directors Arthur Wong and Robert Tung in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The complaint alleged that the directors had (a) breached their fiduciary duties by approving and paying excessive compensation to the non-employee directors of the Company, Arthur Wong, Guangxun Xu and Robert Tung, and (b) failed to make full and accurate disclosure of all material information with respect to director qualification and director compensation paid in 2017 in the Company's annual proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed on October 10, 2018. The directors have engaged their own counsel to answer this complaint. The directors of the Company will continue to answer this complaint.

Postcards have been mailed to all shareholders regarding this hearing and each shareholder has the right to attend this hearing. Copies of the Settlement and the Long-Form Notice are available for review at the "News Release" section of www.caasauto.com.

About China Automotive Systems, Inc.

Based in Hubei Province, the People's Republic of China, China Automotive Systems, Inc. is a leading supplier of power steering components and systems to the Chinese automotive industry, operating through ten Sino-foreign joint ventures. The Company offers a full range of steering system parts for passenger automobiles and commercial vehicles. The Company currently offers four separate series of power steering with an annual production capacity of over 6 million sets of steering gears, columns and steering hoses. Its customer base is comprised of leading auto manufacturers, such as China FAW Group, Corp., Dongfeng Auto Group Co., Ltd., BYD Auto Company Limited, Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. and Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. in China, and Chrysler Group LLC and Ford Motor Company in North America. For more information, please visit: http://www.caasauto.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the qualitative and quantitative effects of the accounting errors, the periods involved, the nature of the Company's review and any anticipated conclusions of the Company or its management and other statements that are not historical facts. Our actual results may differ materially from the results described in or anticipated by our forward-looking statements due to certain risks and uncertainties. As a result, the Company's actual results could differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 28, 2019, and in documents subsequently filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If the outbreak of COVID-19 is not effectively and timely controlled, our business operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected as a result of the deteriorating market outlook for automobile sales, the slowdown in regional and national economic growth, weakened liquidity and financial condition of our customers or other factors that we cannot foresee. Any of these factors and other factors beyond our control, could have an adverse effect on the overall business environment, cause uncertainties in the regions where we conduct business, cause our business to suffer in ways that we cannot predict and materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. A prolonged disruption or any further unforeseen delay in our operations of the manufacturing, delivery and assembly process within any of our production facilities could continue to result in delays in the shipment of products to our customers, increased costs and reduced revenue. We expressly disclaim any duty to provide updates to any forward-looking statements made in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

Jie Li
Chief Financial Officer
China Automotive Systems, Inc.
Email: jieli@chl.com.cn

Kevin Theiss
Awaken Advisors
+1-212-521-4050
Email: Kevin@awakenlab.com

SOURCE China Automotive Systems, Inc.