KEY LESSONS

All these businesses embarked on ambitious expansion plans at the peak of the boom without planning for the inevitable downturn

They were all mostly focused on big long gestation infrastructure projects with heavy capital requirements

They took on more project debt than they could service unless they hit peak capacity and peak prices

They did not account for government policy changes

They thought they could keep restructuring their debt and got trapped when the IBC came in

The Big Message: Taking on too much leverage could put the whole group at risk under the new regulations