Flint Group

In November 2004, CVC Funds acquired BDS (BASF Drucksysteme) and ANI, two competing European inks companies, subsequently renamed Xsys Print Solutions. In September 2005, Xsys acquired Flint Ink Corporation of the US and Flint-Schmidt of Europe and subsequently renamed the combined entity Flint Group.

Today, Flint Group is a leading global solutions provider to the packaging and print media industries, selling printing consumables through its customer-facing organisational structure consisting of two divisions.

The packaging division manufactures and distributes flexographic plates, printing inks and related consumables used by both packaging companies and brand owners. Flint’s packaging division includes the world’s largest producer of specialty inks for narrow web press applications, such as label printing.

The print media division manufactures and distributes printing inks, pigments, offset printing blankets, and pressroom chemicals. Inks include heatset inks (used primarily for printing glossy magazines), coldset inks (both colour and black newspaper ink), sheetfed inks (short-run commercial applications), and publication gravure inks (high-run printed media).

Flint Group ranks either number one or number two in each of its markets, boasting over 150 sites in 35 countries.