NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 4, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that it assigned its 'BBB' preliminary senior unsecured debt rating to Altria Group Inc.'s (BBB+/Watch Neg/A-2) Well-Known Seasoned Issuer (WKSI) shelf registration. We also withdrew the 'BBB' preliminary senior unsecured rating on the company's previous $5 billion shelf registration. Standard&Poor's expects Altria to use the drawings under the new shelf for general corporate purposes, including debt repayment, funding capital expenditures, and working-capital requirements, share repurchases, or to finance potential acquisitions. As of Sept. 30, 2008, Altria had about $885 million of reported consolidated debt. The 'BBB+' corporate credit rating on Altria remains on CreditWatch with negative implications, where we placed it on Sept. 8,
