A potential initial public offering from online fashion retailer Shein in London would claw back a chunk of the combined blow the market suffered from companies shifting their primary listings to New York. 

After British personal computer-maker Raspberry Pi confirmed Wednesday that it was considering a UK share sale, speculation is rife around the possibility that Shein could also list in London, as Bloomberg News reported in February.

China-founded Shein has achieved a valuation of $50 billion in private trades, a chunky figure that would lift the spirits of executives at the ailing London bourse, which has largely missed out on a revival of European IPOs. 

“This would be a boost for the City,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. “There is now an end in sight to the IPO drought.”

The government, meanwhile, is doing its bit: Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt will meet executives from various companies on Thursday as he tries to entice more to sell shares on the London exchange, Bloomberg reports. 

Success in this charm offensive could prove key for the market after it saw three large firms valued at a combined $142 billion be among those to move their primary listings to the US in recent years. Construction suppliers CRH Plc and Ferguson Plc and gambling group Flutter Entertainment Plc all made the switch, partly to be closer to their main customer bases.

A Shein listing in London would not come without controversy. 

The company is exploring this option as it has judged it unlikely that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will approve a New York IPO, Bloomberg reported in February. US Senator Marco Rubio was among those asking the SEC to block it, saying the company needs to disclose more about its operations in China. 

Last year, Virginia Representative Jennifer Wexton called for a probe into Shein citing evidence in a Bloomberg News report of the company using cotton from China’s Xinjiang region. The company has said that it has a zero-tolerance policy for forced labor.

Still, even with the political cloud, a large global company choosing the UK would go some way toward re-affirming the London Stock Exchange’s status as the top equities market in Europe. More money changes hands daily on the LSE than on any other European exchange, but the combined market capitalization of primary listings in Paris has overtaken it, partly driven by the rally in giant luxury stocks like LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The City of London has barely benefited from the nascent rebound in Europe’s IPO market. Its slice of first-time share sales dwindled to 2% so far this year, the lowest in decades, as companies like Spanish beauty and fragrance group Puig Brands SA raised funds following a continent-wide drought.

The biggest blow to London from a new listing standpoint came last year as ARM Holdings Plc, a Cambridge, England-based computer chip-maker, chose to go public in New York. Arm had a market capitalization of $117 billion as of Wednesday’s close.

Younger investors

For its part, the London bourse contends that there is more to success than new listings. 

“IPOs are not the sole indicator of the health of the UK capital markets,” a spokesperson for London Stock Exchange Group Plc said in an emailed response to questions. 

“Equity capital raised in London has increased over 38% year on year, and more equity capital has been raised in London than on the next two largest European exchanges combined,” the spokesperson added. £7.4 billion ($9.4 billion) has been raised in London this year, mostly through follow-on offerings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Hunt, meanwhile, described Raspberry Pi’s potential London flotation as “excellent news,” in a LinkedIn post. “The UK is open for business and we continue to attract the most promising, global businesses,” he said.

A Shein listing could have the added benefit of broadening the London market’s appeal, said Janet Mui, head of market analysis at RBC Brewin Dolphin.

“Having Shein may add a touch of youth to the perception of UK stocks,” she said. “To many younger investors, the FTSE 100 may appear old-fashioned and boring. I think having Shein amongst the biggest constituents may help raise awareness and interest in UK stock indices amongst a younger generation of investors, because Shein appeals and markets very well to that demographic profile.”