Shein files for U.S. IPO, looks to expand global reach

Shein has confidentially filed to go public within the U.S. because the Chinese-founded fast-fashion juggernaut looks to expand its global reach with a long-rumored initial public offering, CNBC has learned. 

The retailer was last valued at $66 billion and may very well be ready to start out trading on the general public markets as soon as 2024, people acquainted with the matter said Monday. 

It’s unclear how much the corporate is currently value, but its valuation has been a central point of debate amongst Shein and the advisors it’s working with, people acquainted with the matter said. 

A confidential filing is common, because it allows corporations to speak with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and make any essential adjustments to their filings in private. Over the following few months, Shein will likely make tweaks to its paperwork and answer quite a few questions from the agency. The filing will likely be made public once the corporate is able to move forward with its IPO. At that time, those communications with the SEC and any adjustments to its paperwork will likely be released as well.

Shein has been on a meteoric rise over the past few years after it won over consumers across the globe with its fashion-forward designs, limitless assortment and dirt-cheap prices. But Shein has faced a series of challenges along the way in which and faced accusations of using forced labor in its supply chain, violating labor laws, harming the environment and stealing designs from independent artists.

The corporate is currently under investigation by the newly formed House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and has faced scrutiny over its ties to Beijing. Quite a few lawmakers, including 16 Republican attorneys general, have called on the SEC to make sure Shein is not using forced labor in its supply chain before it’s allowed to start out trading within the U.S.

In October, Marcelo Claure, the corporate’s newly minted group vice chair and former SoftBank CEO, told CNBC in an interview that Shein is cooperating with lawmakers and taking time to satisfy with them to clarify the business. He said, “there is no such thing as forced labor” within the Shein factories that he has visited. But the corporate has repeatedly acknowledged that forced labor has been present in its supply chain and noted that it’s taking steps to repair it.

As Shein grew from an obscure Chinese retailer into a worldwide behemoth with headquarters in Singapore, it largely stayed within the shadows. It said and did little or no publicly until this 12 months, when it began to open up in an apparent attempt to organize for a U.S. IPO.

With Chinese CEO Sky Xu still on the helm, Shein tapped former Bear Stearns investment banker Donald Tang to be its executive chair and public face earlier this 12 months. It has hosted a series of well-publicized pop-up events, sent influencers to its Chinese factories in a poorly received public relations campaign and courted the business press with splashy parties that featured its independent designers and other friends of the corporate.

Shein has worked hard to beat the various negative accusations which have come to define the corporate and has made its executives available for interviews because it worked to vary the narrative.

Recently, it acquired about one-third of Sparc Group — a three way partnership that features brand management firm Authentic Brands Group and mall owner Simon Property Group — and in doing so, made a robust U.S. ally that might help legitimize the corporate within the eyes of U.S. regulators.

As a part of the deal, Shein has partnered up with former rival Endlessly 21 to unveil a co-branded clothing line that can see Shein design, manufacture and distribute the garments totally on its website. Shein has been hosting pop-up events within Endlessly 21’s stores.

Shein still has more work to do before it could win the trust of U.S. regulators. Beyond its myriad of issues, its CEO stays a mysterious figure who doesn’t give interviews or speak publicly in regards to the company. The practice is a serious departure from other firms which can be publicly traded within the U.S., which recurrently make their CEOs available. In October, the corporate didn’t tell CNBC whether Xu remains to be a Chinese citizen.

The corporate has tapped Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley to be the lead underwriters on the offering, the people said. 

Shein declined to comment. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley didn’t comment.

Earlier Monday, Chinese media reported on Shein’s filing.