If a recession comes, how can the lessons of the global financial crisis (GFC) inform private equity practitioners? : Up until the 2008 credit crunch, the conventional recipe for success in private equity (PE) was straightforward: Just pour in debt and stir. A generous dose of leverage typically spiced up the financing of a transaction. But the global financial crisis (GFC) turned this money pie into mush. Government-backed purchases of toxic assets — funded by central bank purchases of government bonds — eventually engineered a comprehensive bailout of distressed borrowers and other heavy debt users.