Who is Thomas Zilliacus? All you need to know about the Finnish entrepreneur who wants to buy Man Utd

Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus has confirmed that he has prepared a bid for Manchester United. But who is he?

PR website Pressat has claimed that the bid has been submitted through XXI Century Capital, an investment firm owned by his holding company.

Meanwhile, journalist Ben Jacobs reports that Zilliacus' bid has only been proposed at this stage, and that he contacted Raine Group on Wednesday before submitting a letter of intent.

Part of the proposal involves a fan ownership model, which would involve a large number of United fans investing a small amount of money into a new company set up by Ziliacus, where they would then have access to an app to vote on decisions made by the club.

He has stated that the bid will be "built on equality with the fans", and would ensure that the club can "operate on a foundation of respect, equality, dignity, diversity, racial harmony and democracy".

Here is a look at the Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus in more detail.

Thomas Zilliacus: Who is he?

Thomas Zilliacus is a 69-year-old entrepreneur born in Helsinki, Finland. He is a resident of Singapore, and has worked on various projects in Asia and Europe throughout his career.

He is the founder of the social media group, novaM Group.

Thomas Zilliacus: How rich is the prospective Man Utd bidder?

The net worth of Thomas Zilliacus is not currently publicly available, although the Daily Mirror claim he is not thought to be worth the same as confirmed United bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, or have the same funds available to him as Sheikh Jassim, who has also submitted an offer for the club.

Thomas Zilliacus: His career and high-profile positions

The Finnish entrepreneur spent 13 years with mobile networking giants Nokia between 1980 and 1993.

He assumed various roles within the company, including acting as their global head of corporate communications for six years.

He also played a role in Nokia's entry into Asia, and is said to have helped to shift the public view of the company towards one that created new technology.

Zilliacus also spent time with other social media and e-commerce companies. He also invested in the games developer Sandbox in 2014.

Has Thomas Zilliacus been involved with football before?

Yes - Zilliacus was chairman of Finnish football giants HJK between 1982 and 1986. The club played in the European Cup in the 1982/83 season, where they famously defeated Liverpool in the first leg of the second round of the competition.

During Zilliacus' reign, HJK won the top division of Finland in 1985, having lifted the Finnish Cup in the previous year.

He also used to be a football player, and away from Finland, he spent one season at the academy of Brazilian side Fluminense.