Shein is said to consider Aug 28 for Hong Kong trading debut

[HONG KONG] Shein plans to start taking investor orders for its long-awaited Hong Kong initial public offering as soon as Aug 20 and debut in the city around Aug 28, according to people familiar with the matter.

Shein had been targeting a valuation of about US$30 billion in the IPO – a fraction of its peak – but has faced pushback from investors and may lower it further, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

Existing shareholders may take up as much as about half of the deal, they said.

The fast fashion retailer is gauging demand for the offering, which is likely to raise US$2 billion to US$3 billion, Bloomberg News reported last week. 

Deliberations are ongoing and details such as size, valuation and timing may change, the people said. 

Closely held Shein is nearing the end of a long journey to go public, after failing to proceed with IPOs in both New York and London.

After reaching about US$100 billion, its valuation has plummeted as growth slowed due to factors such as tariffs and competition from PDD Holdings’ Temu.

Shein has told prospective investors it expects net income to drop this year and then return to nearer to 2025’s US$2.06 billion in 2027, some of the people said.

Shein is trying to position itself as a peer to Zara owner Inditex or H&M, which have price-to-earnings ratios of 28.7 and 19.5, respectively.

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Morgan Stanley expects the company’s 2025 to 2028 net profit growth rate to be higher than Inditex’s and H&M’s.

Shein did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Founded in mainland China and now headquartered in Singapore, Shein built a global fast fashion empire by offering low-priced, trend-driven apparel shipped directly from suppliers.

But US tariffs followed by war in the Middle East have pushed up material costs and prices for consumers. BLOOMBERG