Deloitte has not commented and will not provide any updates until there is something concrete to report.

“A number of people are interested in buying parts or all of the business,” said a source close to the situation.

An informed source told PrintWeek that two bids were on the table, with one of them rumoured to be from Spanish headquartered paper manufacturer Lecta, which had been mooted as a possible purchaser prior to the admnistration.

Lecta has mills in Italy, France and Spain. It owns Garda Cartiere, Torraspapel and Condat, and makes the Regency grade supplied by Paperlinx.

One paper merchant executive said that he believed Lecta had been increasing the volume of its products sold via Paperlinx at the same time as other mills were backing away from the merchant.

A Lecta spokesman said the company had no comment to make on anything to do with the Paperlinx situation at this time.

Paperlinx operations serving the narrow reel and wide-format markets have also been linked to potential buyers.

Separately, there has been speculation that further redundancies are imminent among the circa 330 Paperlinx UK employees retained by the administrators, but this is unconfirmed.

It has also emerged that one unlucky casualty of the Paperlinx administration is a charity. The East Lancashire Railway paid the company £18,000, raised through donations and bequests, for glazing on a new station canopy the day before the companies were placed into administration, according to a report in the Bury Times.

The Paperlinx packaging supplies businesses, which are not in administration, are also up for sale.