Ascena Retail Group gets okay to sell chains to private equity firm

Ascena Retail has received court approval to proceed with the sale of Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant, Loft and Lou & Grey to Sycamore Partners in a deal valued at around $1 billion. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, VA, gave its okay for the deal to proceed despite objections raised by the Justice Department’s Office of the U.S. Trustee.