Altria Group Inc.'s Proposed $1 Billion Unsecured Notes Assigned 'BBB+' Rating

CHICAGO (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 10, 2014--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its 'BBB+' issue rating to Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc.'s proposed $1 billion senior unsecured notes due 2020, which will be drawn from the company's shelf registration statement filed Oct. 30, 2014. The notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Philip Morris USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Altria. We expect the company to use net proceeds from the issuance for general corporate purposes, potentially including share repurchases and initially including investments in short-term interest-bearing investments. We estimate total debt outstanding pro forma for the proposed issuance and recent $300 million UST note redemption is about $14.7 billion. The 'BBB+/A-2' corporate credit rating

...CHICAGO (Standard & Poor's) Nov. 10, 2014--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its '###+' issue rating to Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc.'s proposed $1 billion senior unsecured notes due 2020, which will be drawn from the company's shelf registration statement filed Oct. 30, 2014. The notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Philip Morris USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Altria. We expect the company to use net proceeds from the issuance for general corporate purposes, potentially including share repurchases and initially including investments in short-term interest-bearing investments. We estimate total debt outstanding pro forma for the proposed issuance and recent $300 million UST note redemption is about $14.7 billion. The '###+/A-2' corporate credit rating on Altria remains unchanged, as does the stable outlook. Altria's "satisfactory" business risk profile reflects its solid market position derived from owning a portfolio of high equity...

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