Business news in brief

A New Jersey real estate investment firm has purchased Camden's Liberty Park Townhomes affordable-housing complex and plans $1.5 million in renovations at the site in exchange for tax abatements. Tryko Partners, which is based in Brick, said in a statement that it bought the 184-unit property from Vesta Corp. of Connecticut. The price was not disclosed. Tryko, which specializes in affordable-housing projects, will re-side all buildings, replace windows, repair sewage lines, and complete other improvements through its PILOT, or "payment in lieu of taxes," deal with the City of Camden. It also will install a network of security cameras to be monitored by police. - Jacob Adelman

Horsham-based Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. luxury-home builder, said fiscal third-quarter earnings fell as lower prices and unit sales caused revenue to decline. Net income for the three months ended July 31 totaled $66.7 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with $97.7 million, or 53 cents, a year earlier, the company said. Revenue fell to $1.03 billion from $1.06 billion. The results probably reflect a slowdown in orders nine to 12 months ago caused by higher mortgage rates at the time, according to Megan McGrath, an MKM Partners analyst - Bloomberg News

Johnson & Johnson agreed to sell its Splenda lineup to Heartland Food Products Group, abandoning a product that has ascended to the top of the low-calorie sweetener market over the last two decades but also brought controversy. J&J's McNeil Nutritionals unit, which is based in Fort Washington, Montgomery County, will sell the brand to Heartland for an undisclosed amount, according to a statement on Tuesday. Heartland already sells products with sucralose, the ingredient used in Splenda, but the transaction brings a well-known brand name. McNeil Nutritionals sued Heartland in 2006, claiming that its packaging of store-brand sweeteners diluted Splenda's trademark and misappropriated advertising ideas. The two sides settled in 2009. - Bloomberg News

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which has its Americas headquarters in North Wales, was involved in two patent decisions released Tuesday. More of Teva's total revenue is from generic medicine, but its best-seller by far is its branded, patent-protected multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. Tuesday's cases dealt with both parts of the business. A federal judge in Indianapolis - home to Eli Lilly & Co. - ruled that Teva's generic version of the chemotherapy drug Alimta would infringe on Lilly's patent, thereby keeping Teva's generic off the market until the patent expires in 2022. Meanwhile, in Washington, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board said its early analysis suggests that Mylan Inc. might be correct in challenging patents on Copaxone. But the patent office will need another year to study the issue. Mylan is registered in the Netherlands to avoid paying U.S. corporate taxes, but executives operate from Canonsburg, near Pittsburgh. - David Sell

German-based drugmaker Bayer AG settled two court cases filed in Berlin by former shareholders of Schering AG over how much they were entitled to receive from the $19.5 billion takeover in 2006. Schering-Plough, a U.S. subsidiary of Schering AG, was sold to Merck & Co., in 2009. Bayer and Merck have operations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. - Bloomberg News

Best Buy Co., the world's largest electronics chain, said it would expand distribution of Apple Inc.'s Apple Watch tenfold after demand exceeded expectations. The device will be available in 900 stores on Sept. 4 and all 1,047 of Best Buy's U.S. big-box stores by the end of next month. The chain began offering the watch - offering models for between $349 and $700 - less than three weeks ago on its website and at 100 locations. - Bloomberg News

With the nation investing billions to expand bus service and light-rail lines, the federal government said that it is giving $9.5 million to programs that train workers for jobs in the transportation industry. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx was at a community college in Los Angeles to announce 19 grants, which also benefit transit agencies or schools in New York City, Chicago, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area. Foxx said that the demand for qualified workers to drive and repair vehicles and manage transit systems is far greater than the current supply, and that the grants will begin to help bridge this gap. The transportation department did not have an immediate estimate for how many people the grants would train. - AP

U.S. home rents jumped in July as house prices showed signs of flagging. Real estate data firm Zillow said that rents rose a seasonally adjusted 4.2 percent from a year ago. The higher rents suggest that demand for apartments is continuing to grow as the share of Americans owning homes has dropped. The share of the U.S. population that owns a home has fallen to 63.4 percent, a 48-year low, according to the Census Bureau. - AP