Shein opens at HK$48.56 in Hong Kong trading debut

Shein began trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 1 September, opening at HK$48.56 a share for a market capitalisation of about HK$200 billion.

The opening price sits far below what private investors paid. At the top of the offer range Shein was valued at close to $27 billion, 72.5% below the $98.2 billion peak it reached in a 2022 funding round, according to Reuters. Its last private round, in May 2023, put the company at $66 billion. For competitors and regulators, the prospectus now puts numbers on what the tariff war has cost Shein.

The offering

The offering was 280 million Class B shares at HK$47.60 to HK$49.50 each, aiming to raise up to HK$13.86 billion, or about $1.77 billion, according to a filing with the stock exchange. The final price was set on 31 August. The China Securities Regulatory Commission cleared the listing on 10 July after failed attempts in New York and London.

For scale, Reuters reported that PDD Holdings, the parent of Temu, carries a $117 billion market capitalisation, while H&M is worth around $24 billion and has lost market share to Shein.

A thin free float

Cornerstone investors committed about $383 million, the terms showed. A further 10% of the offering was reserved for retail buyers. Existing shareholders also agreed to a voluntary six-month lock-up on the new shares they receive, matching the rule Hong Kong applies to cornerstone buyers, Bloomberg reported. That leaves the freely tradable pool at debut potentially a fraction of the $1.77 billion headline.

A thin order book lets modest trades move the price more sharply, and it limits the stock available for short sellers to borrow. Both effects tend to fade only when the lock-up expires.

Growth has stalled

The draft prospectus, published by Hong Kong's stock exchange ahead of the listing, showed revenue growing 8% in 2025 to $41.85 billion, down from 20.7% growth in 2024. Net income fell 38.7% to $2.06 billion. First-quarter 2026 brought a $99 million loss against a $395 million profit a year earlier, including a $328 million fair-value charge on convertible redeemable preferred shares, the filing showed. Quarterly revenue growth was 1.1%, against 41.1% in 2023.

Tariffs bite in the US

Shein said the removal of the US de minimis exemption in May 2025 had an "adverse impact" on US sales and on overall growth. The filing showed US revenue fell 14.3% to $2.04 billion in the first quarter from $2.38 billion a year earlier. The US accounted for 22.5% of quarterly revenue. Chinese-origin goods shipped to the US now face tax rates of 10% to 87.5%, Shein said, and it has raised US prices to offset part of the cost. In July the EU imposed a €3 fee on low-value e-commerce imports, and Shein warned the European impact could match or exceed the US one. Europe was about one-third of 2025 revenue.