ll looked plausible. Shein plans to issue up to 341.6 million shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a value of approximately $2 billion to $3 billion. The company plans to list 8 per cent of its total shares. A listing by elimination Hong Kong wasn’t Shein’s initial plan. The company filed for a New York IPO late 2023 with executive chairman Donal Tang as its emissary to Washington. Tang moved to the US capital, lobbied politicians, and in July 2023 even backed the removal of the de minimis customs waiver. But it was not enough. Congressional allegations that Shein’s Chinese supply chain had links to forced labour made a US float politically untenable. Then London came into the picture. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority approved the listing in April 2025. However, the China Securities Regulatory Commission withheld its blessing. Despite its Singapore headquarters, Shein remained subject to Beijing’s offshore-listing regime because its supply chain sits overwhelmingly in China. That left one venue: Hong Kong.  Last year, Shein quietly filed in this market and waited nearly a year for the CSRC’s approval, which arrived in early July. “Hong Kong was not the first choice but was effectively forced on Shein because it faced regulatory difficulties listing on the major bourses, including pressure from China,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail.  “Hong Kong is a good exchange, but it doesn’t provide the same access to capital or the global prestige of New York or London.” The diplomat departs Coinciding with the listing, Tang is stepping down from his role after three years as the company’s public face. He will not appear among the leadership in the forthcoming filing, though he stays on as a senior adviser with no fixed transition timetable. Tang was hired for China-US dealmaking pedigree and Washington connections. In Hong Kong, the roadshow will instead be fronted by founder and chief executive Sky Xu, who will take the chairman role himself.  Tang’s final year showed how much scrutiny awaits. After fines from French and Italian regulators, he led an internal compliance push only for French authorities to find sex dolls resembling children on Shein’s third-party marketplace in November, igniting a national scandal just as the company opened its first permanent store inside Paris’s BHV department store. Shein suspended its French third-party platform, then reinstated it after fending off a government attempt to shut it down in court. The parcel economics Shein’s compressed valuation mostly resulted from the dismantling of the duty-free small-parcel regime on which Shein’s direct-from-China model was built.  The US ended de minimis treatment for Chinese and Hong Kong shipments in May 2025 and for all origins in August 2025. Customs data cited by trade analysts suggests low-value parcel exports from China to the US subsequently fell by around 30 per cent. Now Europe follows. The region has scrapped its €150 duty-free threshold and, from July 1, will levy a €3 charge per item category on low-value consignments. Reuters notes the new European parcel fees are already weighing on Shein’s sales growth and profitability. “There will, of course, be strong interest in the listing, but it is unlikely to receive the fanfare that was originally hoped for, and the valuation will come in lower than earlier estimates,” Saunders said. “This isn’t just because of the choice of exchange, it’s also because the operating environment is more complex and challenging than it was some years back.” The IPO is expected to launch late August, with the timetable could change depending on market conditions. A public filing is expected in the week of July 27. Further reading: ‘Anything goes’: Why Everlane sold to Shein.