Caesars Entertainment Corp. (CZR:US), the casino company taken private in a $30.7 billion leveraged buyout just before the credit crisis, has taken steps in recent weeks that signal it’s poised for a massive debt restructuring that will saddle creditors with steep losses.

“We expect that something is imminent,” Alex Bumazhny, a credit analyst with Fitch Ratings in New York, said in a telephone interview. Fitch, which has a CCC rating on Caesars that’s reserved for borrowers where “default is a real possibility,” said it expects the company to attempt a debt-for-equity exchange with a group of junior creditors.

Caesars, with properties from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to Harrah’s Atlantic City, has had only one profitable year since 2008 as it struggles to service $21 billion of long-term debt (CZR:US) amid a drop in consumer spending. Bondholders have suffered losses of $2.6 billion since September as the company gained regulatory approval for a refinancing that shielded valuable assets from lenders. Last week, advisers to a group that owns senior bonds of a Caesars unit entered into talks to restructure its borrowings, said two people familiar with the matter.