Chinese online fashion retailer SHEIN is set to raise about $2 billion in a new funding round this month and is targeting a US listing in the second half of this year, three people familiar with its plans told Reuters.
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UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is a major investor in this round, as are existing investors, private equity firm General Atlantic (GA) and venture capital group Sequoia Capital China, said two people and a separate person with knowledge of the matter. .
Tiger Global Management became a new investor, the first two people said.
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According to six sources with knowledge of the matter, SHEIN reduced its valuation in this fundraise to $64 billion, a third less than the funding round a year ago.
The company had held initial talks last month with several Investment Bank to pick lead bookrunner for US IPO, two sources with direct knowledge of plans said.
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The float, if successful, would be the largest worldwide this year and would test US investors’ appetite for Chinese companies amid volatile capital markets and geopolitical tensions.
All the sources declined to be identified because the information is confidential.
SHEIN said it currently has no plans for an IPO and declined to comment further. Mubadala and Sequoia China declined to comment. GA and Tiger did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Two of the sources said investors who participated in SHEIN’s 2022 fundraising will adjust the value of stakes purchased earlier to reflect the company’s current valuation.
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SHEIN, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Chris Xu, has grown into one of the world’s largest online fashion marketplaces since its 2008 launch in Nanjing. It produces clothing in China to sell online in the United States, Europe and Asia, selling items such as $10 dresses and $5 tops.
It had attempted to list in the US in 2020 but partially shelved the plan due to unpredictable markets amid rising US-China tensions, sources said earlier.
At the time, the company had hired Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to work on the IPO, but three sources said it has decided to re-choose its advisors.
a chinese company?
Shein’s IPO plans are being closely watched as China last month introduced new rules on how companies can list overseas. Those rules followed a regulatory crackdown that slowed US listings by Chinese companies.
According to Refinitiv data, Chinese companies raised only $230 million in US listings last year, a sharp decline from $12.9 billion in 2021.
It was not immediately clear whether SHEIN plans to officially seek approval from the Chinese regulator for its IPO.
In recent years, the company has made a Singaporean firm its de facto holding company and Xu has also become a permanent resident of the city-state, Reuters reported last year. Sources had earlier said that the move was designed so that SHEIN could bypass the demand for Chinese regulatory approval for the listing.
SHEIN is expanding into Europe as it builds its team in Ireland, said one of the sources and two different people briefed on its business plans.
He said it has started manufacturing in Turkey and will open a larger facility in Poland as part of its European expansion plan.
The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification.
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