Fenchurch Advisory Partners has been hired to help Standard Life consider the options for its healthcare division to include a possible sale.
The sale would be the first deal to take place under new chief executive David Nish, the former director who took over from long-standing head Sandy Crombie in early January.
The health insurance business has a value of up to £200m, and saw a 38% jump in UK sales to £2.88bn in the last quarter of 2009.
Standard Life Healthcare has a significant presence in the private healthcare market, according to Eamonn Flanagan, an analyst at Shore Capital.
He added: "I am not surprised they are selling after disposing of Standard Life Bank. They appear to be streamlining their business and moving away from a composite model."
Standard Life placed its banking division on the market in September last year with an estimated sale price of between £200m and £300m. Barclays snapped it up in October for £226m.
Frits Seegers, chief executive of Barclays global retail and commercial banking said of the acquisition at the time: "This transaction brings to Barclays high-quality savings and mortgage books, and an attractive customer base".
