The federal government hopes to appoint advisors to conduct a scoping study into the proposed sale of health insurer Medibank Private by the end of November.
The coalition has long planned the sale of the government-owned Medibank, although it's still to make a decision on the likely timing.
"The reason we are having a scoping study is to advise us, to inform us, whether market conditions are right and whether it is the right environment to finalise a sale which will maximise value for taxpayers," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told a senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.
He expects the appointment of advisors will be announced by the end of November.
"We wanted the scoping study to come back to government by the end of February so we could consider its recommendations on the timing and structure of the sale in the context of the 2014/15 budget," he said.
Deputy secretary of the Department of Finance's business procurement and asset management group, Jan Mason, told the hearing the tender process for four advisors - business, legal, accounting and process and probity - had closed.
Medibank Private managing director George Savvides described the scoping study as a "very, very thorough, intense audit" of the organisation, which has been through two already.
The entity has previously been valued at about $4.5 billion.
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