The Luxemburg-headquartered business is the world’s second-largest printing ink manufacturer, after Sun Chemical.

Reuters reported that Flint was in the process of refinancing with an “extend and amend” deal for its €1.7bn (£1.5bn) liabilities.

Like many other industry manufacturers and suppliers, the firm’s sales and profits have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year Flint Group had sale of €2bn, and employs around 6,800 people worldwide.

It is owned by the private equity wing of Goldman Sachs and conglomerate Koch Industries.

Reuters said the business had been put up for sale at the end of last year, but the process had been stymied by the pandemic. It speculated that Flint's divisional focus on different markets could see it split up. 

As well as inks and coatings for the packaging and commercial print markets, Flint also makes flexo plate systems. It acquired the Xeikon digital press business at the end of 2015.

In the group’s most recent update regarding the Covid-19 situation, COO Steve Dryden said Flint was not currently experiencing any direct impact on material supplies. He said its global procurement team was reviewing material status daily “for every region of the world” and had a weekly coronavirus global task force meeting.