London, Mar 21 (ANI): The Red Knights, a group spearheading the campaign to overtake Manchester United from the Glazers Family, is poised to table a 1.25 billion pounds bid for the club by June that will involve fans owning a majority stake

Under proposals are being studied by the bidder’s financial adviser, Nomura, around 30 wealthy Red Knights investors would take control of the club by setting up a new company that would later invite fans from around the world to subscribe to new shares.

The structure of the bid is designed to wrest control of Manchester United from the Glazer family as quickly as possible and to meet legal requirements that determine how firms can be run under collective ownership, The Observer reports.

“The takeover would be in two stages but the objective is to give the fans a central role in the club’s future,” said a City source.

Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs’s chief economist, who is one of the founding members of the Red Knights, is keen to distribute equity as widely as possible among millions of supporters globally, The Observer reports.

The idea is for United to resemble Spanish rival Barcelona, which is owned by its fans and where profits are ploughed back into the club.

Japanese bank Nomura last week met with wealthy supporters of the Red Knights campaign, which is backed by investment banker Keith Harris and Paul Marshall, founder of London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace, the paper reports. (ANI)