Vision One Management Partners, an activist hedge fund firm co-founded by former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Carl Icahn protégé Courtney Mather, wants US department store operator Kohl's to put itself up for sale, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites unnamed people familiar with the matter as revealing that Vision One has expressed its concerns about the company's future to management, having built a stake in the business.

As well as asking Kohl's to launch a sale process, the hedge fund also wants board representation, according to Reuters's sources.

Shares of Kohl's, which operates more than 1,100 stores across the US and also has a retail partnership with LVMH's beauty products retailer Sephora, ended trading on Tuesday in New York up 4.9% at $26.80 on the news, giving the company a market value of $3bn.