Troubled British insurer Royal & SunAlliance (R&SA) is considering selling a business unit it once thought of as “core” to its operations – its general insurance business in Scandinavia.

Codan, which operates in Sweden and Denmark, provided nearly 20% of R&SA’s operating profits last year, but Danish/Norwegian insurer Tryg-Vesta has made an unexpected bid for the Codan general insurance business. The life business was already being sold off to Finnish and Norwegian insurers.

R&SA has previously stated that it will consolidate its operations around its British, Canadian and Scandinavian general insurance units.