Business news in brief

The Golden Inn in Avalon was sold Thursday to a Chester-based hotel-management company that plans to transform the family beachside resort into luxury lodgings. Icona Resorts declined to discuss the purchase price for the 155-guest-room property, but spokeswoman Molly Mita said it was the biggest hotel transaction in Cape May County history. The company will spend "tens of millions" on renovations, to be completed by development affiliate Achristavest by July 2016, Mita said. Icona renovated Diamond Beach's Pier 6600 into Icona Diamond Beach in 2013. Achristavest also built Phillies part-owner John Middleton's Avalon house and a house for FedEx founder Frederick Smith in Park City, Utah, Mita said. - Jacob Adelman

Since its launch last December, Kiva.org/Philadelphia, the crowdfunded small-business, no-interest lending program, has funded 57 loans totaling $261,000. Fund-raising is underway for an additional eight loans totaling $40,000, Kiva spokesman Jason Riggs said. Of the Philadelphia businesses that have received funding, 59 percent are owned by ethnic minorities, Riggs said. To qualify, small businesses create a profile at Kivazip.org, where they outline their business plans and crowdfunding loan goals. An anniversary celebration set for 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Center for Architecture will feature a holiday marketplace and include remarks by Mayor Nutter and Premal Shah, Kiva's president. Tickets are available at https://kivacityphiladelphia.splashthat.com. - Diane Mastrull

Jefferson health system will open a multidisciplinary clinic for ALS patients on Jan. 8 that will combine research and hands-on care in one center, the system announced this week. The clinic, called the Jefferson Weinberg ALS Center, will bring together doctors, social workers and rehab specialists who work with patients who have the deadly neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Staffers from the ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter will work beside Jefferson clinical workers, said president Ellyn Phillips. For about 15 years, the association has had a similar relationship with Penn Medicine, Phillips said. Its employees will be on site at Penn just through the end of the year, though Penn ALS patients will still have access to the group's services. - Stacey Burling

A subsidiary of Salt Lake City-based Bridge Investment Group Partners L.L.C. has acquired six senior-housing properties, including Arbor Terrace in Chestnut Hill, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, which marketed the portfolio. ROC Seniors Housing Fund Manager L.L.C. bought the properties from a joint venture between the Carlyle Group and Capitol Seniors Housing on Nov. 16, HFF spokeswoman Olivia Hennessey said. The other properties are in Corona del Mar, Riverside and Whittier, Calif.; West Bloomfield, Mich.; and Washington, D.C., HFF said. Hennessey declined to discuss the portfolio's purchase price. - Jacob Adelman

Motorola Solutions Inc. agreed to buy Airwave Solutions Ltd., a U.K. communication services provider, for about $1.2 billion to help build out its software and services business. Motorola expects to make a net cash payment of 700 million pounds ($1 billion) at closing, based on purchase price adjustments and cash in the business, according to a statement. A deferred cash payment of 64 million pounds will be made in November 2018, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company said. Airwave, based in Slough, England, provides a communications network for the U.K.'s emergency fire, police and ambulance services, according to its website. - Bloomberg News

American International Group Inc., the insurer that's been slashing jobs to cut costs, dismissed four senior members of its real estate business, including the group's chief executive officer, Robert Gifford, according to sources. AIG Global Real Estate's head of Americas, Donald Huffner, and Brooks Mohrman, who managed investments in Mexico, were also let go as part of a plan to cut more than 300 senior positions, the sources said. The group's general counsel, Richard D'Alessandri, was also dismissed. AIG CEO Peter Hancock had announced plans to cut about 23 percent of the top 1,400 members of senior management as he seeks to simplify the insurer and improve returns. Activist investor Carl Icahn, who is seeking a split up of the company, has faulted Hancock for not reaching profitability targets. - Bloomberg News

The Toyota Camry, the top-selling car in America for the last 13 years, may have finally met its match: The Toyota RAV4 compact sport utility vehicle. Bob Carter, Toyota Motor Corp.'s top U.S. sales executive, predicted that the RAV4 will outsell the Camry within the next five years as millennials, the children of the baby boomers, embrace small SUVs as the new family car. This year, Toyota will sell more than 300,000 RAV4 models and about 425,000 Camrys in the diminishing family sedan market, Carter said. - Bloomberg News

Single-family rental giant American Homes 4 Rent plans to acquire a smaller Phoenix-area rival for $1.5 billion, part of a consolidation trend in the maturing industry. American Homes said its acquisition of American Residential Properties Inc. would significantly boost its heft. The Los Angeles-area company is the largest publicly traded single-family landlord but still smaller than industry behemoth Invitation Homes, an arm of Blackstone Group. - Los Angeles Times