Mercedes-Benz is examining the sale of its branches in Germany.

The company announced on Friday in response to an inquiry that it was looking at all of its own dealerships and workshops. The review is being conducted in an open-ended and step-by-step process. "Mercedes-Benz is open to talks with potential buyers of the Group's own branches." Only experienced companies would be considered as buyers. Furthermore, there are no plans to sell all the branches as a package. In total, there are 80 branches with a total of 8000 employees. There are no plans to cut jobs or close branches. The company is also seeking close consultation with the works council.

The Supervisory Board will deal with the issue on Friday; the employee side must agree to a sale. According to a report in "Handelsblatt", an agreement in principle is to be reached with the works councils by the summer. Mercedes has already sold its own branches abroad in recent years and only still has its own car dealerships in Germany.

(Report by Christina Amann, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at Berlin.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or Frankfurt.Newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)