Shein’s elusive founder holds pre-IPO investor meetings in London

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Shein’s reclusive Chinese billionaire founder has travelled to the UK to meet investors in anticipation of a possible listing of the fast-fashion group on the London stock exchange, according to two people with knowledge of plans.

Sky Xu’s presence underscores Shein’s hope that it will receive the necessary regulatory approvals in China and the UK to move forward with a London listing.

Xu was accompanied by his finance chief and bankers at one of the meetings, one person with direct knowledge of the discussions said. The talks were focused on Shein’s growth prospects rather than its listing process, they added.

The meetings were informal and not an official investor roadshow, the second person said. They added that if Shein were to get the green light for an IPO in the UK, a listing would be more likely early next year than this year.

The Singapore-based entrepreneur has never given a media interview and speaks patchy English. He will also travel to the US for meetings one of the people said. Meanwhile, US-based executive chair Donald Tang, a former investment banker and media mogul, has become the face and the most visible leader of the company since he joined in 2022.

The Chinese-founded group, valued at $66bn during its latest funding round, has disrupted the garment industry with its model of shipping cheap clothes directly from factories in China to western shoppers. However it has also faced allegations of forced labour in its cotton supply chain and of having lax environmental standards, both of which it denies. 

The company launched its plan for an IPO at the end last year, at first targeting New York but shifting to London after being rebuffed by US regulators.

Shein, which is now based in Singapore, is still waiting for Chinese regulators to give approval for it to list overseas, with them having been unhappy with the company’s move to sever its ties with China, where it has the vast majority of its manufacturing and operational staff, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Shein declined to comment.

Over the summer, the group filed confidential paperwork with the UK’s financial regulator for a listing and is undergoing due diligence.  

Xu, who has changed his English name from Chris to Sky, is so elusive employees joke that they do not recognise him at the office, according to several people who have worked with him in recent years.

He was born in Zibo, a manufacturing city in China’s Shandong province, where his parents were workers in state-owned factories. His mother was a garment worker, a fact that would later help him when he was teaming up with clothing factory workers to establish Shein’s supply chains. 

Additional reporting by Ivan Levingston and Emma Dunkley