Panasonic Corp. is considering “various options” for the growth of its health-care unit, spokeswoman Megumi Kitagawa said by phone today, declining to comment on a report that it may sell the business.

The company is considering selling the unit, which markets devices to check blood sugar levels and for hearing aid, for between “a few tens of billion yen” to 100 billion yen ($1.04 billion), the Nikkei business publication said Sunday without citing anyone. Private equity funds such as KKR & Co. may be interested in buying the unit, it said.

Japan’s No.2 TV maker is cutting jobs and reducing its number of business units as it forecasts a net loss of 765 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 31 amid competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. A sale of the health-care unit is part of the company’s plan to accelerate divesting “non-core” businesses, the Nikkei said.

Panasonic earlier this month agreed to sell a building in Tokyo for about 50 billion yen to Sumitomo Mitsui Finance & Leasing Co. and Nippon Building Fund Inc.

The health-care unit reported an operating loss of 8.8 billion yen for the fiscal year ended March 2012, on sales of 133.6 billion yen, the Nikkei said.

Panasonic shars rose 1.9 percent to 688 yen in Tokyo trading Friday. The stock has plunged 67 percent in the past five years, while the benchmark Topix Index dropped 12 percent.