Shein Targets $27 Billion Hong Kong IPO After New York and London Both Politely Say No

HONG KONG — Shein Global Holdings filed Monday to list in Hong Kong at a valuation of roughly $27 billion, offering around 280 million shares at HK$47.60 to HK$49.50 each, a price that would raise up to $1.77 billion and — per the filing, as reported by CNBC — values the fast-fashion giant at “close to US$27 billion at the top of that range.” The number represents a descent of about three-quarters from the company’s $100 billion private-market peak four years ago, though Shein’s bankers prefer the phrase “a journey of discovery,” and their lawyers prefer the word “correction,” and the company’s investor deck, sources say, uses a word that is not in the English language at all.

The itinerary that got the company here is now a case study in valuation management. In 2022, Shein was worth $100 billion, a figure that analysts described at the time as “a mood.” In 2025, it attempted a listing in New York, which did not occur. It then attempted a listing in London, which also did not occur. It has now filed in Hong Kong, where it is wanted, at $27 billion.

The two rejections, far from embarrassing, have been reframed internally as “the most rigorous global due-diligence program in the history of the IPO market.” Two of the world’s most important markets, after careful review, declined to participate. That is not a rejection, one of the company’s advisors said. That is a reference. “You don’t get a reference from New York and London by asking nicely. You get one by being excellent,” the advisor said, before adding, “or by asking twice.”

Down three-quarters is not, in the current market, a decline. It is a valuation finding its natural altitude. A balloon does not fall, the market’s philosophers have long observed. It descends, gracefully, to the ground it was always going to. Shein’s descent was simply more scenic than usual, with two stopovers and a layover in a jurisdiction that had not yet been visited by a unicorn of this particular shade of pink.

The filing itself is unremarkable in the way that all $27 billion filings are unremarkable: a description of the business (selling clothes online, very fast, and in large quantities), a description of the risks (regulation, competition, the general condition of being a company), and a description of the use of proceeds (growth, which is the word every company uses and the word no investor has ever seen delivered).

At press time, Shein was reportedly considering adding a loyalty program for former investors to its prospectus, complete with founding-member discounts. Its bankers have described the program as “a thank-you for your patience and your 73 percent,” and one sell-side analyst, in a note that was pulled before it was sent, called the Hong Kong listing “the only city that ever loved it enough to tell it the truth.”