  We show that the universal $X$-generated $F$-inverse monoid $F(G)$, where $G$
is an $X$-generated group, introduced by Auinger, Szendrei and the first-named
author, arises as a quotient inverse monoid of the Margolis-Meakin expansion
$M(G, X\cup \overline{G})$ of $G$, with respect to the extended generating set
$X\cup \overline{G}$, where $\overline{G}$ is a bijective copy of $G$ which
encodes the $m$-operation in $F(G)$. The construction relies on a certain
closure operator on the semilattice of all finite and connected subgraphs
containing the origin of the Cayley graph $Cay(G, X\cup {\overline{G}})$ and
leads to a new and simpler proof of the universal property of $F(G)$.
