Experts say Shein's U.S. IPO is all but dead

China-founded e-commerce company Shein's hopes of going public in the United States are growing slimmer by the day, according to experts, as rising tensions between Beijing and the U.S. roil business and trade.

The company, last valued at $66 billion, confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. in November. Since then, it has faced resistance as it tries to join the American retail sphere, including through numerous rejected attempts to become a member of the National Retail Federation, the industry's largest trade association, CNBC previously reported.

The e-commerce upstart filed to go public while becoming a household name in the U.S. by offering low prices and a facility to offer new styles quickly. The company is poised to take major market share from U.S. retailers, particularly Gap, TJX Companies and Macy's, according to UBS data from last year, and continues to challenge Target, Walmart and Amazon.

But as political resistance to its U.S. IPO mounts, Shein is seemingly shifting gears, as it reportedly prepares to confidentially file for a £50 billion offering in London in the coming weeks. The company likely would have preferred to list in the U.S., because the offering could bring a higher valuation than in the U.K., said Angelo Bochanis, an IPO analyst at Renaissance Capital, which provides pre-IPO research and IPO-focused ETFs. 

But its path hasn't been easy, as federal and state officials call on the Securities and Exchange Commission to scrutinize or even block the initial public offering in the U.S.

"Scrutinizing companies with high-profiles and roots in China is very politically in-vogue right now in the United States," Bochanis said.

A London IPO could, in theory, be easier than a U.S. offering, according to