Tacala LLC participates in the highly competitive quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment and is highly dependent on Taco Bell's product innovation strategies and marketing initiatives to drive sales. The company's geographic concentration in the South and Southeastern U.S. makes it vulnerable to regional economic conditions and also exposes it to competition from locally operated Mexican-QSRs popular in the area. Tacala has performed well since its refinancing in Feb. 2018. Given its financial sponsor ownership, we expect the company will look to manage its capital structure consistent with this amount of very high leverage through periodic leveraging dividend transactions should performance and credit market conditions allow for it. The stable outlook reflects our expectation for relatively stable credit metrics over the next
