ValueAct Capital Partners has built a $1.2 billion stake in Citigroup in a wager that the U.S. bank's businesses serving corporations will help it rebound.
ValueAct has built the position over the past four to five months and is growing its stake opportunistically, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing a letter to investors. The stake equals about .07 percent of the U.S. bank, according to the Journal.
The wager on Citigroup, led by CEO Michael Corbat, is partially based on its treasury services business, according to the Journal. ValueAct isn't calling for a strategic shakeup, the report said.
That move echoes a 2016 investment by ValueAct in shares of Morgan Stanley, another bank on the rebound after the financial crisis.
"We have been having constructive conversations with ValueAct and welcome them as investors,'' Mark Costiglio, a spokesman for New York-based Citigroup, said in a statement sent to CNBC.
Shares of Citi were up 1.6 percent after hours after closing up 0.8 percent on Monday.