Specialty retailer the Limited Inc. recently saidthat it will sell its Lane Bryant chain of women’s apparel stores to Charming Shoppes Inc. for $335 million in cash and stock.

The deal makes Bensalem, Pa.-based Charming Shoppes, which operates 1,774 stores, including Fashion Bug and Catherine’s Plus retail chains, America’s biggest seller of plus-size women’s clothing. Lane Bryant, based in Columbus, Ohio, operates 653 stores in 46 states. The purchase, for $280 million in cash and about $55 million in common stock, will result in the Limited owning about 8 percent of the Charming Shoppes. The companies expect to close the deal in late August. —Nola Sarkisian-Miller