Shein, the online fast-fashion giant, has moved a step closer to a London Initial Public Offering (IPO) after securing approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), according to sources familiar with the matter.
The FCA’s green light represents a significant milestone in the Chinese-founded company’s ambitions to list on the London Stock Exchange, following the confidential submission of registration documents last June.
However, the company still faces headwinds, including market instability triggered by US President Donald Trump’s imposition of 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods and stricter regulations on duty-free shipments from China to the US.
Shein, which sells $10 dresses and $12 jeans in more than 150 countries and was valued at $66 billion in its last fundraising round in 2023, will also need to secure approvals from Chinese regulators, notably the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), for the London float, sources have told Reuters.
The company in recent weeks informed the CSRC of the FCA’s approval but has yet to receive a green light from the regulator, said one of the sources. They declined to be named by Reuters as the information remains private.
Shein and the FCA declined to comment, while the CSRC did not respond to a request for comment.
Shein, whose clothes are produced at thousands of factories mostly in China, last year sought Beijing’s approval to go public in London, despite the company having moved its headquarters from Nanjing, China, to Singapore in 2022.
Shein’s filing with the CSRC makes it subject to Beijing’s new listing rules for Chinese firms going public offshore, sources have said.
Shein does not own or operate any manufacturing facilities, and instead sources its products from around 5,800 third-party contract manufacturers mainly in China, subjecting it to the CSRC’s listing rules, a separate source said previously.
The rules are applied on “a substance over form” basis, giving the CSRC discretion on when and how to implement them, the source added.
Shein ships the majority of its products directly to shoppers by air in individually addressed packages.
Under the CSRC’s rules, a host of authorities such as the National Development and Reform Commission, which supervises foreign holdings in local firms, the cybersecurity regulator and others may get involved in approving offshore IPO applications.
