Pipe is stacked for use in a Kinder Morgan pipeline near Laramie, Wyoming.
Matthew Staver | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of Kinder Morgan rose roughly 3.5 percent Monday after the pipeline operator sold a 50 percent stake in its southeastern natural gas pipeline system to Southern for $1.47 billion.
Steve Kean, CEO of Kinder Morgan, said in a press release the company will use proceeds from the transaction to pay down debt.
"This is another step towards achieving our stated goals of strengthening our balance sheet and positioning the company for long-term value creation," Kean added in the Sunday evening release.
Shares of Southern were down 0.7 percent after the news on Monday.
Overall, Kinder Morgan shares have significantly risen in 2016, growing nearly 29 percent.