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Shein is considering moving its base back to China from Singapore in a bid to convince Beijing authorities to approve the e-commerce company’s Hong Kong initial public offering, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
The report said that Shein had gone so far as to consult lawyers about setting up a parent company in mainland China, citing people familiar with the matter. However, it added that there was no guarantee that Shein would act upon the preliminary discussions.
Shein, which sources a significant amount of its goods from China, confidentially filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong last month, according to a Financial Times report.
That comes after delays in Shein’s plans to publicly list in London. The company confidentially filed there over a year ago but has struggled to secure regulatory approval.
Shein did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
A London listing had been seen as a potential boon for the Chinese-founded company, providing it more legitimacy for its international business and access to a deep and mature pool of Western investors.
The company, which was founded in Nanjing, China, in October 2008, has long focused on global expansion. Shein registered its headquarters in Singapore in 2019 and has been based there since 2021.
However, the e-commerce platform specializing in fast-fashion has faced mounting policy headwinds in Western markets this year, with U.S. President Donald Trump removing a valuable tariff exemption that had helped it maintain low prices on small shipments from China. Lawmakers in some other Western markets are also considering similar moves.
Even before London, Shein had failed to list in the U.S., where it faced backlash tied to allegations of forced labor in its supply chain.
Read the full Bloomberg report here.
