Britain’s financial regulator is taking longer than usual to approve fast-fashion retailer Shein’s IPO because it is checking its supply chain oversight and assessing legal risks after an advocacy group for China’s Uyghur population challenged the listing, according to two sources close to the matter. Britain’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, a monitoring body of the interior ministry, has also raised concerns within government over a Shein IPO because of allegations about labour practices at its suppliers.
Why it matters
The U.S. and NGOs have long accused China of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where they say Uyghurs are forced to work producing cotton and other goods. Beijing has denied any abuses.
For Shein, valued at $66 billion in a fundraising round last year, its IPO performance will partly hinge on what risks the FCA decides it must include in its prospectus, and how those are priced in.
