Last spring, the Spanish property developer Astroc started the ball rolling. Its debt servicing problems triggered the first serious plunge in the shares of Spain’s financially over-stretched property and construction companies. Before crashing, Astroc shares had risen tenfold since they were listed in 2006.

Its chairman, Enrique Bañuelos, who had earlier been catapulted into the Fortune 100 list of the world’s richest tycoons, was forced to step down.