(Bloomberg) -- Wells Fargo & Co. is weighing a sale ofits insurance brokerage business, which could fetch about $2billion, people familiar with the matter said.

The San Francisco-based lender has begun reaching out to privateequity firms to gauge interest in Wells FargoInsurance Services USA Inc., said the people, who asked not tobe identified because the matter isn’t public.

While the company is planning to move forward with a sale, ithasn’t set a timeline for holding a formal auction, one of thepeople said.

Would be company's largest divesture

If Wells Fargo fetches $2 billion for the insurance services unit,it would be the company’s largest divestiture on record, toppingthe sale last year of its crop insurance business to Zurich Insurance GroupAG, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2014, USI Insurance Services bought 40 of Wells Fargo’sinsurance brokerage and consulting offices.

Wells Fargo spokesman Alan Elias said the bank doesn’t commenton market rumors or conjecture.

Wells Fargo, the largest retail bank in the U.S. by branchcount, is pursuing the new sale as part of a broader push to boostprofit by cutting costs and exiting businesses where it doesn’t getthe best returns on investment, the people said. While itsinsurance services unit — among the largest insurance brokersin the U.S. — remains financially healthy with strong cashflow, it doesn’t contribute much to the bank’s overall return onequity, one of the people said. It’s a relatively easy business forWells Fargo to carve out, as it isn’t deeply enmeshed with the restof the company, the person said.

Private equity firms have shown a strong appetite for insurancebrokerages, making it a good time for Wells Fargo to bring its unitto market, the people said.

Private equity likes brokerages because they generate a lot ofcash, which means they can service the debt incurred in a buyout.This year, KKR & Co. and Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebecagreed to buy Onex Corp.’s USI Insurance Services for about $2billion. Blackstone Group LP said it would purchase human-resourcesand benefits-administration platforms from broker Aon Plc for asmuch as $4.8 billion.

Employs 3,500 people in 27 states

Wells Fargo Insurance Services, like other brokers, is anintermediary between people and businesses looking to buy insuranceand companies selling policies. It employs some 3,500 people in 27states, and writes or places about $9 billion worth of riskpremiums annually in property, casualty, benefits andother types of insurance, according to its website.

Related: Insurance industry looks for M&A deals in2017

Wells Fargo’s shares were flat on Monday, closing at $55.04,giving the firm a market value of just over $275 billion. It’sspent much of the past year trying to emerge from a scandal overemployees creating fake accounts to meet sales goals, a debaclethat’s cost the bank millions of dollars in legal fees and itsformer chief executive officer his job.

Wells Fargo executives are expected to update analysts andshareholders on their strategy at an investor day scheduled forThursday. They will probably highlight efforts to focus on customerservice rather than product sales, and emphasize the strength ofthe bank’s economic model, Eric Wasserstrom, an analyst atGuggenheim Securities, said in a note to investors Tuesday.

“The one incremental action that we expect is for WFC toannounce additional cost reductions,” he wrote, using the bank’sticker symbol.

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