 In March 2018, the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) announced that it had agreed to buy a 51% majority stake in Regent Hotels for $39 million and hopes to expand the brand's footprint to 40 hotels from the current portfolio of six hotels.This includes rebranding the iconic InterContinental Hong Kong, which initially opened as a Regent property in 1980, to a Regent property once again in 2022 following major renovations.New properties have since been signed in Kuala Lumpur, Chengdu and Shanghai, with IHG planning a careful rollout of the brand to ensure its exclusivity at the top-end of the hospitality market.