NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) May 23, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the ratings and outlook on Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc. (BBB/Stable/A-2) are not immediately affected by the company's announcement that it has reached an agreement with the IRS regarding previous tax benefits that Philip Morris Capital Corp. (PMCC) had taken related to lease-in lease-out (LILO) and sale-in lease-out (SILO) leveraged lease transactions. Under the settlement, Altria expects to pay about $500 million in federal and state income taxes (including estimated interest), of which the company estimates $450 million related to federal taxes will be paid by June 30, 2012. We expect the company to primarily use cash on hand and free cash flow generation to
