manufactures premium cooking appliances for Whirlpool's portfolio of brands. The project includes a distribution center. In August 2013, Whirlpool leadership Zachary Guenther - Interim CEO Whirlpool Corporation, 2013 announced it would acquire a 51% majority stake in China's Hefei Royalstar Sanyo (a joint venture between Japan's Sanyo Electric Co, now a unit of Panasonic Corp, and Hefei State-Owned Assets Holding Company Ltd, the investment arm of the local state government) for $552 million and give the company leverage to expand in the Chinese appliance market. In July 2014, Whirlpool announced it would pay €758 million ($1 billion) to buy a 60% stake in with British brand Hotpoint and Italian rival Indesit (after Hotpoint had already bought out Indesit). In December Whirlpool completed a successful mandatory tender offer for the remaining shares and delisted Indesit from the Milan Stock Exchange. Indesit is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Whirlpool Italia Holdings S.r.l. In January 2017, Whirlpool announced that it would cut about 500 jobs from its Europe, Middle East and Africa dryer manufacturing unit by 2018. This decision provides the closure of the plant in Amiens, France, which became an issue in the 2017 French presidential election, with both Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron visiting the workers on strike before the second round. In October 2017, Whirlpool and retailer Sears Holding Corp. reportedly ended their 101-year old association that allowed Whirlpool branded appliances to be sold at Sears stores, and later at Kmart. The companies reportedly were unable to come to an agreement on pricing issues. Whirlpool will continue to supply Kenmore appliances manufactured for Sears. In March 2020, Whirlpool Corporation announced the official opening of a new Factory Distribution Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Social activism Energy conservation Whirlpool has received $19.3 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding as part of its Smart Grid Investment Grant program. Diversity Whirlpool Corporation has seven employee-run diversity networks that are involved with business, employee, and community projects to address the needs of the groups they represent. These diversity networks are The Women's Network (WWN), the Veterans' Association (WVA), the Whirlpool African American Network (WAAN), The Pride Network (PRIDE), the Whirlpool Asian Network (WAN), the Whirlpool Hispanic Network (WHN), and the Young Professionals' Network (YP). LGBT commitment In 2004, Whirlpool received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI) released by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equal rights organization Human