Shein’s Hong Kong IPO Is 1.6x Covered, Mixue Hit 5,258x

Shein's long-awaited Hong Kong listing is drawing a far cooler reception from retail investors than the city's recent IPO hits, with its public offering only 1.6 times covered by the end of the first day of order-taking.

The fast-fashion giant, trading under stock code 00625 once it debuts, launched its Hong Kong offering on Monday at a price range of HK$47.60 to HK$49.50 a share. By 5pm that day, retail investors had placed HK$3.58 billion in margin orders against a HK$1.39 billion public offer, according to data from several brokerages cited by the South China Morning Post — a subscription rate that leaves plenty of room before the window closes at noon on Thursday.

That figure sits at the opposite end of Hong Kong's recent IPO spectrum. When bubble-tea chain Mixue listed in March, its retail tranche was oversubscribed 5,258 times, with individual investors borrowing nearly HK$1.8 trillion in margin loans to chase shares, Reuters reported, citing the company's own filings. Robotics firm Unitree's retail book has also run more than 8,000 times covered this month.

A pricier debut, a smaller crowd

Shein is seeking to raise up to $1.77 billion at the top of its range, valuing the company at close to $27 billion. That is down roughly 70% from the near-$100 billion the company commanded in private funding rounds four years ago, and below the $64 billion it fetched in 2023 and 2024.

Dickie Wong, executive director of research at uSMART Securities in Hong Kong, said he expects the subscription response to be "just average," adding he would not recommend subscribing given Shein's slower growth outlook and regulatory pressures. The company's revenue growth decelerated to 8% last year from nearly 21% the year before, and it swung to a $99 million quarterly loss after Washington scrapped a duty exemption that had let it ship small packages to US shoppers tariff-free.

Cornerstone investors — a group led by existing shareholders Boyu Capital, Tiger Global and General Atlantic, alongside Tencent, Greenwoods, Taikang Life and UBS — have already committed about $383 million, accounting for close to a quarter of the deal. That leaves a smaller pool of shares for the open market to absorb, which can inflate or deflate a subscription multiple depending on demand.

Part of the gap comes down to what else is competing for investors' cash. Hong Kong's IPO pipeline this year has been dominated by artificial intelligence and chip-related listings, the kind of growth story that has pulled retail money away from a company facing tariff headwinds and slowing sales.

Shein is expected to announce its final offer price on August 31, with shares set to begin trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 1.