Britain's Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group PLC said last week it will sell its US operations to management for £158 million pounds and cancel the company's listing on the New York Stock Exchange, according to an Associated Press report.

Royal & SunAlliance said in 2003 that it did not consider the US business central to its main operations and closed it to new business, the company said in a statement. The sale of the unit, which is operating under the name of Arrowpoint Capital Corp., will result in a loss of about £443 million pounds.

"The sale of the US operation is the right deal for our shareholders,'' chief executive Andy Haste said. "The transaction will bring certainty and finality and delivers on our objective of a clean exit from the US.”

Royal & SunAlliance's US operations are based in Delaware, where the company employs about 700 people. The business provides insurance coverage for workers' compensation claims, asbestos claims, and financial transactions.

Royal & SunAlliance had said in June 2006 it would slash almost seven percent of its global work force, some 1,550 jobs, by the middle of 2008 as part of a cost-cutting plan.