Business news in brief

Royal Bank America's parent company, Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania Inc., of Narberth, named F. Kevin Tylus its president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Robert R. Tabas, the CEO since 2009, will retire from day-to-day management but remains as chairman, the bank said. Tylus was president of Mercer County, N.J.-based Yardville National Bank when it was acquired in 2007 by PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which made him a regional president. - Inquirer staff

Construction engineering firm Hill International Inc., of Marlton, said its joint venture with Louis Berger Group Inc. won a contract from the National Park Service to provide construction management services in connection with the repair of earthquake damage to the Washington Monument. The 555-foot monument was damaged in a 5.8-magnitude earthquake centered in Northern Virginia on Aug. 23, 2011. The company said it could not disclose terms of the contract. Separately, Hill said it won a contract to provide project management services for the $111 million Dhofar Beach Resort in Salalah, Oman. The four-year contract has an estimated value to Hill of about $2.7 million. - Reid Kanaley

Shire P.L.C., the Irish drugmaker with U.S. headquarters in Chesterbrook, won backing to sell its attention-deficit drug Vyvanse in eight European countries, paving the way for the company's top-selling treatment in the United States to be marketed in Europe. The United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and Sweden recommended approval for Vyvanse . The drug earned Shire $805 million last year, or 19 percent of sales. - Bloomberg News

RAIT Financial Trust, of Philadelphia, priced a secondary stock offering of nine million shares at $5.75 per share. The offering is expected to close Friday. Deutsche Bank Securities and Barclays are the joint book-running managers of the offering, RAIT said. The company, a real estate investment trust and property manager, intends to use proceeds of the offering for investments and general corporate purposes. Shares closed down 9 percent, at $5.44. - Inquirer staff

The Bancorp Inc., Wilmington-based parent of Bancorp Bank, said it priced a secondary public offering of four million shares of common stock at $11 per share. The $44 million offering is expected to close Friday, the company said. Sandler O'Neill & Partners L.P. is the book-running manager and Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. is comanager. Shares closed down 9 percent at $11. - Inquirer staff

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Corp., the world's top smartphone makers, each scored a significant victory on different continents that will allow both to keep selling their products without legal interference this holiday season. A federal judge in San Jose late Monday rejected Apple's request to block U.S. sales of three smartphones made by Samsung. The ruling came weeks after a jury found that Samsung infringed on six Apple patents. Hours later, Samsung announced that it was dropping its demands that several European countries prohibit sales of Apple smartphones that Samsung claims infringe its patents. The companies remain locked in legal battles around the globe. - AP

The government says it will investigate companies that collect and sell personal information about consumers to determine whether they need to improve their privacy practices. The Federal Trade Commission said it ordered nine data brokers to provide the agency with details about their sources of information, how they use the information they gather, and whether consumers have access to the data. The consumer profiles assembled by data brokers allow advertisers and retailers to tailor marketing campaigns to specific customers. The companies are: Acxiom of Little Rock; Corelogic of Irvine, Calif.; Datalogix of Westminster, Colo.; eBureau of St. Cloud, Minn.; ID Analytics of San Diego; Intelius of Bellevue, Wash.; Peekyou of New York City; Rapleaf of Chicago; and Recorded Future of Cambridge, Mass. - AP

The United Nations said the world economy grew at a significantly weaker pace in 2012 and is not likely to pick up enough in the next two years to recover jobs lost during the global financial crisis. The U.N. report on the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013 said it may take at least five more years for Europe and the United States to make up for the job losses caused by the 2008-09 recession with existing policies and growth trends. According to the report, world economic growth is expected to reach 2.2 percent in 2012 and is to remain "well below potential" at 2.4 percent in 2013 and 3.2 percent in 2014. - AP

Nielsen, the dominant source of TV ratings, said it had agreed to buy Arbitron for about $1.26 billion to expand into radio measurement. Arbitron pays 70,000 people to carry gadgets that register what stations they're listening to. Since Nielsen also collects cash register data, CEO David Calhoun said, buying Arbitron will let Nielsen be a one-stop shop for advertisers who want to know how the radio advertising they buy affects product sales. Arbitron's operations are mainly in the United States, while Nielsen operates globally. - AP

Amgen Inc. will pay $762 million to settle litigation that accuses the drugmaker of marketing the anemia drug Aranesp for unapproved uses. A law firm involved in the case says the Thousand Oaks, Calif., company will pay a $612 million civil settlement, $136 million in criminal fines, and a $14 million forfeiture. Amgen said it entered a conditional guilty plea to a misdemeanor count of misbranding Aranesp. The company took a $780 million charge last year for a possible settlement. Amgen develops biologic medicines, or drugs produced by living cells rather than by mixing chemicals. Its settlement marks the latest deal between the U.S. Department of Justice and a drugmaker over improper marketing allegations. - AP