The former chancellor is among those being investigated by Shein as plans for a London stock market flotation worth over £50bn go ahead, Sky News has learned.
Sajid Javid, the former finance minister, has been asked to take a job at Shein, the online fashion giant that is pushing ahead with plans for the biggest London IPO in years.
Sky News has learned that Mr Javid is among a number of senior City figures who have held talks with Donald Tang, Shein’s chief executive, in recent weeks.
City sources said if Mr Javid’s appointment goes ahead he could either join Shein’s board or become an adviser to the China-founded company.
They added that Baroness Fairhead, the former chair of the BBC Trust, was also on a list of candidates drawn up by headhunters advising Shein.
A person close to the company said the identities of the people approached reflected both the seriousness with which Shein took the issue of corporate governance and the extent of his focus on a London listing.
Since leaving government, Mr Javid has taken a job at Centricus, an investment firm that unsuccessfully tried to structure a bid for Chelsea Football Club in 2022.
A spokesman for him, who had insisted Mr Javid would stand for re-election in his Bromsgrove seat a week before his public announcement to the contrary, did not respond to a request for comment from Sky News.
In recent weeks, several reports reiterated Sky News’ revelation that Shein had turned its attention to an initial public offering in London due to difficulties in obtaining approval from US regulators.
If it goes public, Shein is expected to be worth around £50 billion or more.
The company is also understood to have considered Paris as a possible stock exchange location.
Earlier this year, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt held talks with Donald Tang, Shein’s chief executive, to persuade the company to embark on one of London’s biggest ever IPOs.
The meeting between Mr. Hunt and Mr. Tang underscored the importance that British officials attach to the idea of outdoing the U.S. to achieve Shein’s IPO.
If it happens, Shein could become the London Stock Exchange’s second-largest IPO in history, after the 2011 debut of Glencore International, the commodities trading and mining group.
Mr Tang also met LSE executives and other junior ministers as part of preparations for the IPO.
Shein filed paperwork for a New York listing last year, but is increasingly concerned that his application could be rejected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley advised on the deal.
Singapore-based Shein has become one of the world’s largest online fashion retailers, although its growth has not been unchecked amid rising concerns over labor standards.
Last year, Sky News revealed that Shein was in talks to buy British fashion brand Missguided from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.
While the deal itself was only worth a modest sum, retail analysts said it could pave the way for Shein to build a more meaningful profile in the UK, perhaps through a wider collaboration with Frasers.
Shein was founded in China in 2012 and was valued at over $100 billion last year. At the time, it was worth more than H&M and Zara’s parent company Inditex combined.
The company’s value was slashed to $66 billion in a stock sale last year.
Shein operates in more than 150 countries.
An agreement has also been reached with SPARC Group, a joint venture between Ted Baker owner ABG and Simon Property Group, a US shopping center operator.
As part of this deal, SPARC’s fashion brand Forever 21 gained distribution on the Shein platform, which has 150 million users worldwide.
Shein acquired a third stake in SPARC Group, while SPARC Group also acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Shein.
The LSE’s efforts to take Shein to court comes at a difficult time for the city as a listing venue for major multinational companies, as ARM Holdings, the U.K.-based chip designer, opted to go public in New York rather than London.
Other companies, such as gaming operator Flutter Entertainment and pharmaceutical company Indivior, are planning to move their main listings to the US, citing higher valuations and more liquid markets.
However, in recent weeks, London has finalized the potential IPOs of Raspberry Pi, the personal computer maker, and AOTI, a medical technology provider.
Mr Hunt hosted a summit in Dorneywood last week attended by technology companies seeking a UK listing.
Shein declined to comment.