Financial Investment News reporter Liu Qinghua
The previously rumored SHEIN went public in the United States to seek a valuation of 90 billion US dollars, and there has been new progress recently.
According to a number of ** reports, SHEIN's IPO in the United States was blocked, and the U.S. legislature stepped up its scrutiny of SHEIN, requiring it to provide evidence of non-use of forced labor. In China, SHEIN has been in contact with Chinese regulators about listing in the United States.
It seems that both domestic regulation and foreign censorship are facing a lot of pressure and are in a dilemma.
In addition, it is reported that SHEIN has entered into talks with the London ** Exchange regarding the possibility of listing in the UK.
But whether or not it moves to the UK, regulation is still a problem that needs to be solved in front of SHEIN.
Listing in the U.S. was blockedAccording to a number of ** reports such as upstream news, the U.S. Congress is trying to prevent SHEIN from going public in the United States. It was revealed that after SHEIN applied for an IPO in the United States, the U.S. legislature stepped up its scrutiny of SHEIN, requiring it to provide evidence of non-use of forced labor.
This is not the first time SHEIN has encountered obstruction from relevant US departments.
According to reports, on May 1 this year, more than 20 U.S. lawmakers jointly called on the U.S. ** Exchange Commission to stop SHEIN's IPO. In August this year, shortly after it was reported that SHEIN was preparing to go public in the United States, the attorneys general of 16 U.S. states jointly sent a letter to the U.S. ** Exchange Commission, requesting a review of SHEIN's ** chain.
In recent years, SHEIN has also taken a number of measures and seems to have prepared in advance for the review.
One is that SHEIN has migrated to SingaporeThe actual controlling shareholder has been changed to Roadget Business Pte., a Singapore companyLtd, many of the operation team and personnel have been transferred to Singapore, and the founder Xu Yangtian may have obtained permanent residency status in Singapore.
Second, a large number of international executives have also entered SHEIN intensively。Adam Winston, who used to be in charge of ESG compliance at Disney, is the global head of ESG at SHEINMarcelo Claure, former chief operating officer of SoftBank, joined SHEIN and was successively appointed chairman of the board of directors of the Latin American company and vice chairman of the group. Soon after, it was revealed that SHEIN hired Frances Townsen, the former chief compliance officer of Activision Blizzard, as a senior consultant, which was considered by the industry to help SHEIN deal with compliance issues such as environment and data.
The third is that he has spent millions of dollars lobbying。According to domestic financial news, SHEIN began lobbying American politicians last year, spending $280,000 in the first year, which soared to $1.51 million this year.
Now it seems that these measures have not helped SHEIN completely clear the obstacles to listing in the United States.
Move to the UK IPO?
Soon after the news of the blockade of listing in the United States, Shein was rumored to be likely to move to the UK IPO.
According to the Financial Associated Press on December 11, SHEIN has negotiated with the London ** Exchange on the possibility of listing in the UK.
According to the report, SHEIN's executive chairman Donald Tang met with executives from the London Stock Exchange and other stakeholders in the UK during a visit to London last week.
The discussions are said to have focused on the possibility of SHEIN listing in the UK, and the company is continuing to explore various options for raising funds through a public offering**.
It is worth mentioning that at the end of October this year, SHEIN acquired the fast fashion brand Missguided and all its intellectual property rights under the British fashion retail group Frasers Group.
Soon after, SHEIN made an offer to ASOS to consider buying British fast fashion brand TopShop.
SHEIN still needs to meet regulatory requirements
As a cross-border e-commerce company that has grown up in China, the topic of whether SHEIN's overseas listing is still subject to the supervision of the China Securities Regulatory Commission has been a topic that has attracted the attention of the industry. Recently, it was reported that SHEIN has been in contact with Chinese regulators about listing in the United States.
According to a number of well-known domestic science and technology ***the information on December 8**, two people familiar with the matter revealed,For several months, Shein has been negotiating with Chinese regulators on whether SHEIN needs to report to China's ** regulators before going to the United States for an IPO.
According to the source, this information has been corroborated by people close to the regulator in China. The person revealed that around mid-2023, SHEIN has already been in contact with the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Although SHEIN's headquarters has moved to Singapore, its ** chain is still closely related to China's ** clothing industry.
According to SHEIN's official information, in China, SHEIN continues to provide all-round support for business companies in terms of flexible on-demand production, management training, factory construction and so on. From March 2022 to June 2023, SHEIN has completed the review of 92 companies and 2380,000 square meters of ** commercial plant construction support work. A number of new industrial parks have also been set up in Guangzhou, Zhaoqing and Qingyuan in Guangdong Province in recent years.
According to the "Trial Measures for the Administration of Overseas Issuance** and Listing of Domestic Enterprises" issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, domestic enterprises must file with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) when they go to stock exchanges such as Hong Kong or the United States. Indirect overseas issuance and listing of domestic enterprises refers to the overseas issuance and listing of enterprises whose main business activities are in China in the name of enterprises registered overseas on the basis of the equity, assets, earnings or other similar rights and interests of domestic enterprises.
Although SHEIN has not only moved its headquarters to Singapore, and founder Xu Yangtian may have also obtained permanent residency status in Singapore, some industry insiders believe that SHEIN should still be subject to domestic supervision.
Shen Meng, director of Xiangsong Capital, once said in an interview with ** that according to the current relevant domestic laws, even if the relocation is located, as long as the business involves China, it will be regulated.
The person also pointed out that it is very reasonable for Chinese regulators to find that SHEIN is responsible for complying with relevant Chinese regulations.
It seems that for this "Singapore company" incubated in Nanjing and rising in Guangzhou, whether it is an IPO in the United States or a British IPO, regulation is still a problem that needs to be solved in front of SHEIN.