Jamas Hodivala KC and Toby Fisher have recently advised two NGOs opposing applications for the listing of securities on the London and New York Stock Exchanges. Both applications were opposed on the grounds of apparent criminality in the supply chains of the applicants.
First, they advised Stop Uyghur Genocide in relation to SHEIN’s attempts to list on the London Stock Exchange. SHEIN is alleged to source much of its product from factories in Xinjiang using forced labour. Jamas and Toby advised on the service of a GLAN Notice on senior executives of SHEIN, and on pre-action correspondence to the Financial Conduct Authority. Public reporting suggests that the Chinese regulators’ delay in approving SHEIN’s listing on the LSE, and SHEIN’s subsequent abandonment of its application, was driven in part by the risk of exposure, through litigation, of forced labour at the factories of SHEIN’s Chinese suppliers.
More recently, they advised Mighty Earth in opposing the listing of JBS on the New York Stock Exchange. JBS is alleged to be responsible for widespread illegal deforestation in the Amazon. Working with US attorneys, they advised on a notice to the NYSE highlighting the risk that the Stock Exchange itself might violate money laundering legislation if it approved the listing of JBS securities. The Economist has reported on the case.