NEW YORK (Reuters) - Star manager Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme Capital Management LLC is opening up its nine-month-old hedge fund to institutional investors, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Launched on January 1 by Miami-based Fairholme, the Fairholme Partnership LP hedge fund has grown to $140 million largely through investments by Berkowitz and his employees, according to the newspaper.

Berkowitz is now looking for institutional investors to put money into the fund, with hopes that it will grow to $1 billion in assets in a year, according to the Journal.

Institutional investors must put at least $5 million into the fund and agree to keep their money in the portfolio for one, three or five years, according to the report.

(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)