After a judgment of the European Court of Justice determined that the VAT rate applied on printing services in Sweden was too high, the Swedish Tax Agency refunded to printing companies the excess tax collected from them. Across the market, the overcharged and refundable sums are reported to amount to between three and four billion Swedish kronor. Disputes have arisen between printing companies and their customers regarding the question who has the right to the refunded VAT.

Houthoff Buruma team included: Paul de Vries, Baukje Dreimüller, Margot Trienen, Bram Caudri, Joram van den Berg, Bouke Boersma, Maarten Sturm, Wieger Kop

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised SCMP Group Limited (“SCMP Group”) on the HK$2.06 billion (approximately US$266 million) sale of its media business to Alibaba Investments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited.

Kirkland & Ellis represents a consortium of investors, including, among others, CITIC Guoan, Golden Brick Silk Road Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Taikang Life Insurance, Ping An Insurance, Sunshine Insurance, New China Capital, Huatai Ruilian, Huasheng Capital or their affiliated entities in their acquisition of NYSE-listed Qihoo360 Technology Co. Ltd., a leading Internet company in China, in a transaction valued at US$9.3 billion, including the redemption of approximately US$1.6 billion of debt. The merger agreement was signed on December 18, 2015.

Osborne Clarke has advised Gastrofix on the closing of its Series A financing round. The Berlin-based ePOS company - which has developed a disruptive point-of-sale (POS) system for Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod - has raised $4 million from Entrée Capital.

Leeds-based smart home security company, Cocoon Alarm Ltd,  has announced that it has secured a £2 million seed investment from Aviva Ventures and Breed Reply Investments, following on from an original investment by Breed in February 2015.

Cocoon’s innovative technology provides home security from one device without the need for additional sensors. It uses Subsound™ technology to detect subtle sounds and vibrations from activity in any room and on any floor.

The Swedish e-commerce company Scand. Design Online AB has been sold to NS Intressenter, Nordstjernan, Nicklas Storåkers and EOC Capital and Anders Brenner. The previous majority owner and MD, Jörgen Bödmar together with the management made a reinvestment in the business when the company was sold.

Slaughter and May, Hong Kong, is advising Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Alibaba) in relation to its proposed acquisition, through its subsidiary Alibaba Investment Limited, of the media business of SCMP Group Limited (SCMP), a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, for a total consideration of approximately HK$2.06 billion. The proposed acquisition is subject to (among others) SCMP shareholders’ approval due to its constituting a very substantial disposal by SCMP under the Listing Rules.

Leading Nordic IT services company EVRY signed a 10-year, billion-dollar agreement with IBM to manage the IT infrastructure that supports EVRY’s operations in Norway and Sweden.

NautaDutilh assisted Zenitel, a leading player in integrated security communications, with the sale of 100 percent of the shares in Zenitel Caribbean to the Curacao Growth Fund, the first private equity fund in Curacao.