News

Chase opens opens first community center in Mattapan Square

Chase has opened the doors to its first “Community Center” in New England, in Mattapan Square. The retail arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. is planning these community centers in 16 urban neighborhoods across the country, with 10 such centers opening so far. They provide traditional branch banking services, along with other community services. In the case of the Mattapan branch, Chase regional director Roxann Cooke said Chase has reached out to local nonprofits to help offer financial seminars and workshops at the branch for nearby residents and small-business owners. The bank plans to offer mentoring for entrepreneurs, a free workspace, and an area for events and pop-up shops. Chase began opening branches in Greater Boston in 2018, with a goal of opening 50 in New England (outside of Connecticut, where it already had a presence). So far, 26 have opened, including the one in Mattapan, with another six slated to open by the end of the year. Cooke, a Mattapan resident, said she was encouraged when she joined Chase in 2019 to learn that the bank was planning to open in Mattapan. Chase eventually picked a former Santander branch at 1617 Blue Hill Ave. in Mattapan Square that’s about 5,400 square feet in size. The branch will be staffed with eight to 10 people, most of whom have some prior connection to the neighborhood, a place that Cooke said is often overlooked by other banks. — JON CHESTO

AWARDS

The New England Council has named its “New Englander of the Year” recipients for 2021, and for the first time in the program’s nearly 60 year history, all of the honorees are women. The council will be presenting awards at its 2021 annual celebration, held virtually on Oct. 18, to US Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, former Boston Children’s Hospital chief executive Sandra Fenwick, and Vertex chief executive Reshma Kewalramani. A spokeswoman for the business group said the council started brainstorming about potential honorees earlier in the year with a focus on leaders who stood out for their contributions and quickly realized that most of the names on the list of potential candidates were women. The council typically presents these awards every year at an annual dinner attended by as many as 1,700 people, but opted for a virtual program for a second year in a row due to the COVID-19 health crisis. — JON CHESTO

BEVERAGES

PepsiCo will sell Tropicana and other juices to a private equity firm in a $3.3 billion deal. The New York drink and snack company will keep a 39 percent non-controlling stake in a newly formed joint venture in the deal with PAI Partners. Juice sales began to decline significantly in the early 2000s when low-carb diets grew in popularity, and that trend has continued with more families choosing instead to buy waters or other no- or low-calorie drinks. Juice consumption in the United States peaked in 2003 at 4.2 billion gallons, but by 2017, that had fallen to 3 billion gallons, wrote Brian Sudano, the managing partner of Beverage Marketing Corp. The group does not see that trend changing. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

Clorox Co. tumbled more than 9 percent Tuesday after forecasting a decline in 2022 sales as pandemic-fueled demand for its cleaning products wanes. The maker of bleach and Glad trash bags posted sales of $1.8 billion in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter — lower than investors’ expectations. For the current fiscal year, which began in July, the company expects organic sales to decline by 2 percent to 6 percent. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

ENTERTAINMENT

China’s biggest gaming company, Tencent Holdings, said Tuesday it will limit gaming time for minors and ban children under age 12 from making in-game purchases after a state media article called games “spiritual opium.’’ Tencent’s pledge to curb gaming for minors came hours after the company’s stock plunged as much as 11 percent following a critique published by the Economic Information Daily, a newspaper affiliated with China’s official Xinhua News Agency. The newspaper article named Tencent’s wildly popular “Honor of Kings” game as one that minors were addicted to, and cited a student as saying that some played the game for eight hours a day. The online article was removed hours later. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

HIGHER EDUCATION

US college endowments posted their strongest performance since 1986 as stocks and alternative investments surged. The median return before fees was 27 percent for the 12 months through June, according to data to be published Tuesday by Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service. The biggest funds, those with assets of at least $500 million, did even better, with a median gain of 34 percent. The investment results, on top of an infusion of federal stimulus funds, are a welcome financial balm for schools that have grappled with revenue declines as the pandemic curtailed enrollment. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

SHIPPING

The race toward zero-emission logistics chains is expanding from the road to the skies. DHL Express, the air cargo subsidiary of Deutsche Post AG, has ordered 12 all-electric aircraft to complement its fleet of battery-powered delivery vans and bikes, a move that will reduce emissions from air services. The Eviation Aircraft Ltd.-built freighters, known as Alice models, will be able to carry 2,600 pounds and have a range of 440 nautical miles. Eviation, which moved to the Seattle area from Israel in December 2020 to tap into its aerospace expertise, said in 2019 it had a backlog of more than 150 orders from customers including Cape Air, a regional carrier in New York and New England. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

ENERGY

BlackRock Inc. and other major financial institutions are working on plans to accelerate the closure of coal-fired power plants in Asia in a bid to phase out the use of the worst man-made contributors to climate change. The world’s biggest asset manager is partnering with Citigroup, HSBC, and the Asian Development Bank to study the proposals, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AUTOMOTIVE

BMW reported 4.8 billion euros ($5.7 billion) in net profit in the second quarter, rounding out a strong earnings season for Germany’s three big automakers as global auto markets continue to recover from the pandemic — particularly when it comes to luxury cars. The company warned, however, that shortages of electronic parts could make production and sales for the rest of the year “volatile.’’ — ASSOCIATED PRESS