Business news in brief

Kinder Morgan Inc. announced Monday it will buy four product tankers in design and construction at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard in South Philadelphia for $568 million. Two ships used to transport petroleum products and crude oil will be delivered in late 2016 and early 2017. Two other tankers will be finished by late 2017, the Houston-based company said. Aker is building the vessels in a joint venture with American Shipping Co. called Philly Tankers L.L.C. Aker, which plans to change its name to Philly Shipyard in October, has orders to build ships through December 2018 at the Navy Yard in compliance with the U.S. Jones Act, which requires all vessels shipping cargo between U.S. ports to be U.S.-built. "We are seeing numerous opportunities in our core pipelines and terminals businesses as the demand for midstream transportation and storage services continues to grow," Kinder Morgan president and CEO Steve Kean said. - Linda Loyd

AstraZeneca's MedImmune subsidiary and Blue Bell-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals said they have agreed to collaborate on developing a compound that they hope will become a vaccine for forms of cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (cervic, head and neck). Using research started at the University of Pennsylvania, Inovio is trying to make vaccines using DNA. AstraZeneca, which is based in the United Kingdom and has offices in Wilmington and Fort Washington, will pay Inovio $27.5 million up front and up to $700 million if the compound reaches certain clinical and development milestones. Actual product sales could mean more in royalties for Inovio. - David Sell

A joint venture of AmeriHealth Caritas, of Philadelphia, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc. exercised an option to complete the purchase of Florida's fourth-largest Medicaid managed-care company, the two companies said. The agreement is subject to regulatory approval. The Jacksonville, Fla., joint venture, Florida True Health, paid $34.75 million for 40 percent of Prestige Health Choice L.L.C. in 2012, according to a regulatory filing. The price for the remaining 60 percent was not disclosed. Based on the 2012 valuation, the remaining 60 percent would cost $52.13 million. AmeriHealth Caritas and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida each contributed $27.9 million to the startup of Florida True Health, which in July managed benefits for 307,724 Medicaid beneficiaries. - Harold Brubaker

Google Inc. is changing its corporate structure to separate its search, YouTube and other Web companies from its research and investment divisions. Alphabet will be the name of what will effectively be a new holding company, the Web company said in a blog post. It will include Google Inc. and Calico, a separate unit that includes Google Ventures, Google Capital, Google X and other subsidiaries. Larry Page will be Alphabet's chief executive officer, while co-founder Sergey Brin will be president. Ruth Porat will be chief financial officer. Sundar Pichai, Page's deputy, will be promoted to become CEO of Google Inc., which generates the bulk of Google's $60 billion in annual revenue. Google is adopting this structure in order to make clearer the difference between its main business and longer-term endeavors, as Page and Brin take on more strategic roles, leaving operational duties to their deputies.

- Bloomberg News

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will spend 28.3 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) for a stake in Suning Commerce Group Ltd. as China's biggest e-commerce operator adds a network of electronics stores in its biggest deal ever. Alibaba will buy a 19.99 percent stake in Suning, which in turn will spend as much as 14 billion yuan for shares in the e-commerce company, according to a statement. The companies will partner in logistics and online sales to target deliveries as fast as two hours. Alibaba chairman Jack Ma is beefing up his retail presence after a 24 percent drop in the company's market value this year, bolstering the appeal of e-commerce operations facing slowing growth in China. Adding Suning to a partnership with department store operator Intime Retail Group Co. helps Alibaba compete with JD.com Inc., which specializes in electronics. - Bloomberg News

Dean Foods Co., the largest U.S. milk processor, fell after the company declined to offer an explanation for the sudden resignation of chairman Tom C. Davis. Dean dropped 2.9 percent to close at $17.21 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares earlier slid 18 percent, the most intraday since November 2010. The company said in a securities filing late Friday that Davis resigned with immediate effect. The company declined to give further details when asked about his departure during the second-quarter earnings conference call with analysts on Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission is pushing ahead with an insider-trading case that involves trading activity in Dean's shares, the New York Times reported Sunday. - Bloomberg News