The China-founded company is now looking to list in Hong Kong after failing to get Chinese regulators to sign off on its plans for a London initial public offering (IPO), Reuters reported Wednesday (May 28).
Sources told Reuters Shein plans to file a draft prospectus with Hong Kong’s stock exchange in the coming weeks, with the goal of going public there within the year.
The shift is happening because Shein has not yet gotten regulatory approval for its U.K. IPO from regulators such as the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), two sources said. Another source said Shein had gotten approval from Great Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for its IPO in London, and soon notified the CSRC.
The company initially expected to get the blessing of Chinese regulators soon after the FCA’s approval but has since experienced an unforeseen delay and limited communication from the CSRC, the source said.
PYMNTS has contacted Shein for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.
Prior to trying to list in London, Shein had attempted to go public in New York, though the company received pushback in the U.S. as well. Last winter, then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to bar Shein’s U.S. listing unless the company made disclosures about its operations and “the serious risks of doing business” in China.
As for the London listing, a source told Reuters that several factors had complicated Shein’s plans. These include allegations that the company’s products contain cotton from China’s Xinjiang region and a possible legal challenge to the London IPO by a non-governmental organization fighting the use of forced labor in China.
Tensions with the U.S. over trade after President Donald Trump imposed stiff tariffs on Chinese imports have only made Beijing and the CSRC more wary, the source said.
This comes at a time when many companies are wary of what impacts tariffs could have, with most worried about supply chain upheaval, according to the recent PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Tariffs and Business Uncertainty: The Current State of Play.”
“Mid-sized companies widely expect supply chain disruptions and rising costs, and those fears increasingly appear justified,” the report said. “Major U.S. ports are sounding alarms about precipitous drops in import volumes, and Walmart, Target and Home Depot CEOs warned Trump of product shortages and higher prices.”
