Company: GDHLF
Filing Date: 2025-05-29
Form Type: 424B5
Source: 0001104659-25-053912
Chunk: 31

Company: GDS Holdings Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-05-29
Form: 424B5
Chunk 31
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 Financial Review and Prospects — Overview — Discontinued Operations” in our 2024 Annual Report.

Our consolidated mainland China subsidiaries, the consolidated VIEs and their shareholders have entered into a series of contractual arrangements, including equity interest pledge agreements, shareholder voting rights proxy agreements, exclusive technology license and service agreements, intellectual property rights license agreements, exclusive call option agreements and loan agreements. The terms in each set of contractual arrangements with the consolidated VIEs and their shareholders are substantially similar. For more details of these contractual arrangements, see “Item 4. Information on the Company — C. Organizational Structure — Contractual Arrangements with Affiliated Consolidated Entities” in our 2024 Annual Report. We rely on these contractual arrangements to control the business operations of the consolidated VIEs. As a

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result of these contractual arrangements, we are the primary beneficiary of Management HoldCo, GDS Shanghai, GDS Beijing and their respective subsidiaries, and, therefore, have consolidated their financial results in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

However, these contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over the consolidated VIEs and we may have to incur substantial costs and expend significant resources to enforce such arrangements in reliance on legal remedies under PRC law. See “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure — We rely on contractual arrangements with the consolidated VIEs and their shareholders for our China operations, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control and otherwise have a material adverse effect as to our business” and “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure — The individual management shareholders of our Management HoldCo may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition” in our 2024 Annual Report.

There are also uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules regarding the status of the rights of our Cayman Islands holding company with respect to the contractual arrangements. It is uncertain whether our corporate structure will be seen as violating the foreign investment rules as we are currently leveraging the contractual arrangements to operate businesses which are classified as VATS by the PRC government and are prohibited or restricted to foreign investment. Furthermore, if future legislation mandates further actions to be taken by companies with respect to existing contractual arrangements