Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up to the Retail sector myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
Shein’s advisers are pitching the company to potential investors at a valuation below $30bn, a roughly 70 per cent drop from its peak, as the fast-fashion retailer battles to win investor interest in its long-awaited initial public offering.
Chinese regulators last month approved the clothing giant’s application to list in Hong Kong, greenlighting an IPO that has been more than four years in the making.
Shein’s previous attempts to list in New York and London were derailed by opposition from politicians and scrutiny of its Chinese supply chain.
The sub-$30bn valuation compares with a valuation of more than $100bn that Shein hit after a private fundraising in 2022, according to two people familiar with the process.
Internally, Shein set a target valuation of $30bn, according to two people familiar with the company’s plans. If it were to IPO at a lower level, the company may have to go back and consult with its existing investors before proceeding, according to one of the people.
Another person familiar with the matter said that investors had shown interest in buying shares at a valuation “in the mid-to-high twenties [of billions]”.
Shein’s popularity exploded during the pandemic, when housebound consumers were drawn in by its cheap prices and huge ad spending.
But its valuation has been hit by the implementation of US tariffs as well as the removal of tax exemptions that allowed the company to avoid paying import duties when shipping customer orders into the US or the EU.
Meanwhile, competition from Chinese rival Temu — which has copied Shein’s model of shipping directly from factories to western shoppers’ homes — has intensified and the cost of air freight has risen.
Two people familiar with the IPO roadshow warned that Shein, which manufactures in China but has its corporate headquarters in Singapore, may struggle to convince major Chinese institutional investors to buy shares in the IPO.
The China-founded company reported a quarterly net loss of $99mn for the first quarter as it flagged the risk of US and EU trade tensions on its business in a filing to Hong Kong’s exchange.
Net profit, which peaked at $3.4bn in 2024, fell to $2bn last year. Net profit margins narrowed sharply from 8.7 per cent to 4.9 per cent over the same period.
Shein did not respond to a request for comment. Two of the lead banks on the IPO, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, declined to comment. The third, JPMorgan, did not respond to a request for comment.
