In a first, Russian energy company Gazprom said it secured a five-year loan from the London branch of the Bank of China for more than $2 billion. “For Gazprom this is the largest deal in terms of the amount of financing attracted directly from one financial institution and the first bilateral loan facility agreement with a Chinese bank,” the Russian company said in a statement. Gazprom and Bank of China Ltd. signed the five-year $2.2 billion loan facility agreement in Shanghai. Russia’s economy is hobbled by dual strains of economic sanctions related to crises in Ukraine and the low price of crude oil. The International Monetary Fund said Russia’s economy last year was among the hardest hit by the weak crude oil market. With a […]