CHICAGO (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 28, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its 'BBB' debt rating to Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc.'s approximately $3 billion senior unsecured notes. We expect the company to issue a mix of 10-year and 30-year notes, which will be drawn from the company's shelf registration statement filed Oct. 28, 2011. The notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Philip Morris USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Altria. Standard&Poor's expects Altria to use net proceeds from the issuance to repurchase up to $2 billion of notes described under its tender offer and other general corporate purposes, including potentially for share repurchase. We estimate total debt outstanding pro forma for
