Shein’s former head of Europe relocates from London to Dubai
The former head of Europe at e-commerce giant Shein has become the latest British executive to relocate to Dubai, Morning Wire can reveal.
Cui He, who was director of Europe at Shein from the beginning of 2023 until last month, according to her LinkedIn profile, has shifted her residency from London to the United Arab Emirates, company filings show.
She has now taken up a new role as the firm’s global head of employer brand. Shein declined to comment on the move.
The residency shift is understood to have been a personal decision rather than a request of the company to switch locations.
Cui holds a degree from Nanjing University and completed an MBA from the Open University in 2013, as well as a business course at Cambridge University in 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She remains a director of Shein Distribution UK, the British arm of Shein, but is understood to have a limited involvement in the British business.
The move adds Cui He to a ballooning group of London execs who have ditched London in search of lower-tax jurisdictions since the start of the year after a government crackdown on non-doms.
In April Morning Wire revealed that Goldman Sachs vice chairman Richard Gnodde moved to Milan to avoid the non-dom tax changes. High-profile tech entrepreneurs have also left, including billionaire Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz, who moved to Monaco, and Revolut co-founder Nik Storonskiy, who also shifted to the UAE.
Thousands of high net worth individuals are thought to have left the UK following the rules changes.
IPO plans uncertain
Singapore-based Shein, which was founded in China, filed for IPO in London last year seeking a valuation of as much as £70bn, but has not progressed with the float so far amid regulatory and parliamentary scrutiny of its supply chain operations and labour practices.
In July, the firm confidentially filed a draft prospectus for the Hong Kong Exchange and sought approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
A key stumbling block lies in the wording of the risk disclosure section of the prospectus, with differences between UK and Chinese regulators as to how to describe supply chain risks, in particular Xinjiang region, where China has been accused of human rights abuses.
Shein is still understood to view London as its preferred destination for an IPO, and it’s thought the Hong Kong filing is a move to pressure UK regulators into clearing its London listing before it heads elsewhere.