Lance Milken, a senior partner at Apollo, said, “With the close of this acquisition, we are very excited to be working alongside Qdoba’s outstanding management team, talented employees and dedicated franchise partners. We look forward to continuing Qdoba’s growth as a leading fast-casual restaurant brand.”

Qdoba Mexican Eats is a fast-casual restaurant chain that serves Mexican-style cuisine and operates more than 700 locations in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The chain had system-wide sales of more than $820 million in fiscal 2017.

Jack in the Box acquired Qdoba in 2003, when the fast-casual Mexican-style restaurant chain operated 85 locations in 16 states and had $65 million in system-wide sales. Over the past 14 years, net units have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent, according to Lenny Comma, chairman and CEO of Jack in the Box Inc.

“We wish the Qdoba brand and its leadership team and franchisees all the best,” Comma said. “Completing the sale of Qdoba marks an important milestone in the actions we’re taking to enhance shareholder value while creating an asset-light business model that is less capital intensive.”

In connection with the sale, Jack in the Box will make a prepayment of $260 million to retire outstanding debt under its term loan.