, APAC

Weekly News Wrap: Duty-free stores boost China’s consumer spend; 7-Eleven to face investor calls for a split

And Shein is reviving plans for a New York listing.

From CNBC:

Chinese consumers are spending more on luxury goods at home, even if they can’t easily travel abroad due to pandemic-related restrictions, consultancy Bain & Company said in its annual report on the luxury sector

A major driver for the local luxury market is the growth of duty-free stores in Hainan, an island province in southern China. In the last two years, new government policies have cut taxes and introduced other business-friendly measures aimed at turning the region into a free-trade port and international consumption centre.

Even before pandemic-induced travel restrictions kept shoppers from traveling overseas, luxury brands were already moving to Hainan and other parts of mainland China from Hong Kong due to violent protests in the semi-autonomous region.

However, the Bain analysts said the biggest driver of Hainan’s duty-free success was sharp discounts that went beyond tax savings.

Read more here.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/24/chinas-consumers-spent-73point6-billion-on-luxury-goods-at-home-in-2021.html

 

From Reuters:

Some major shareholders of Seven & i Holdings are considering submitting proposals at the company’s annual meeting to pressure the convenience store chain to split, the Financial Times reported.

The Japanese owner of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain has been under pressure to consider changes from investors including ValueAct Capital, which has said that the sum of its parts is worth much more than its current market value.

Three shareholders, which includes Wisconsin-based asset manager Artisan Partners, have previously told Seven & i that they believe a major restructuring is necessary. Two of them told the FT that they had specifically asked the company to consider a split within the past few months.

Seven & i Holdings said in a statement to Reuters that it would refrain from commenting on individual shareholders’ cases.

Read more here.

https://www.reuters.com/article/seven-i-hldgs-shareholders-idUSKBN2JZ04R

 

From Reuters:

Chinese fashion retailer Shein is reviving plans to list in New York this year and its founder is considering a citizenship change to bypass proposed tougher rules for offshore IPOs in China, two people familiar with the matter said.

It was not immediately clear how much the company was looking to raise from its New York debut.

The initial public offering (IPO), if finalised, would be the first major equity deal by a Chinese company in the United States since regulators in the world's second-largest economy stepped in to tighten oversight of such listings in July.

SHEIN, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Chris Xu in 2008, first started preparing for a US IPO about two years ago, but shelved the plan partly due to unpredictable markets amid rising US-China tensions, the sources said.

A Shein spokesperson said the company had no plans to go public.

Read more here.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/exclusive-chinese-fashion-retailer-shein-revives-plan-new-york-listing-2022-2022-01-25/

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