REAL ESTATE

Avon Home Sold: One company’s problems may have benefited a local charity.

Avon Products Inc., the big New York cosmetics maker, is threatened by takeovers and its profits aren’t up to snuff. So Avon is selling some assets, including a retirement home in Mission Viejo that a Jewish charity bought Thursday for $10.5 million.

Avon insists that the sale of the home--and nine others nationwide--is not connected to the takeover threats. Instead, the company says, it wants to boost profits by concentrating on its beauty business. But the timing of the sale--the retirement home has yet to open--is considered curious.

Heritage Pointe of Anaheim, the charity, has already raised nearly $4 million in a series of splashy benefits.