MADRID – Norway’s sovereign wealth fund on Wednesday mentioned it can vote in favour of Spanish engineering agency Ferrovial’s controversial plan to relocate its headquarters to the Netherlands, after beforehand having mentioned it will oppose the move.
The $1.four trillion fund, which holds a 1.49% stake in Ferrovial, mentioned on its web site that it will again the plan on the firm’s annual common assembly on Thursday.
Ferrovial’s board has mentioned that the relocation, introduced in February, could be carried out via a reverse merger with its Dutch unit. It was designed to create a platform to permit it to be ultimately listed in america and be part of inventory indexes there.
The relocation plan angered Spanish authorities officers, with Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz saying the corporate was ungrateful because it had benefited from public work contracts and that the move was to dodge taxes.
Authorities officers additionally mentioned there was no want to move to the Netherlands to obtain a list in New York.
Ferrovial spokesman Francisco Polo on Tuesday advised OndaCero radio that the plan had no tax benefits.
The Norwegian fund didn’t clarify its change of coronary heart. It beforehand mentioned on its web site that it opposed such company strikes once they lacked transparency, or when there’s a threat of “unnecessary conflicts of interest”.
A spokesperson for the fund didn’t instantly reply to a message searching for remark.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Modifying by Sharon Singleton)
