Shein has confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. as the Chinese-founded fast fashion juggernaut looks to expand its global reach with a long-rumored IPO, CNBC has learned.
The retailer was last valued at $66 billion, and could be ready to start trading on the public markets as soon as 2024, people familiar with the matter said Monday.
It is unclear how much the company is currently worth. But its valuation has been a central point of debate among Shein and the advisors it’s working with, people familiar with the matter said.
The digitally native retailer has been on a meteoric rise over the last few years after it won over consumers across the globe with its fashion-forward designs, endless assortment and dirt-cheap prices. But Shein has faced a series of challenges along the way, and faced accusations of using forced labor in its supply chain, violating labor laws, harming the environment and stealing designs from independent artists.
The company 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. Numerous lawmakers, including 16 Republican attorneys general, have called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure that Shein isn’t using forced labor in its supply chain before its allowed to start trading in the U.S.
In October, Marcelo Claure, the company’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 meet with them to explain the business. He said “there’s no such thing as forced labor” in the Shein factories that he’s visited. But the company has repeatedly acknowledged that forced labor has been found in its supply chain, and noted that it’s taking steps to fix it.
Shein 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 did not comment.
Earlier on Monday, Chinese media reported on Shein’s filing.
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