MADRID - Norway's sovereign wealth fund on Wednesday said it will vote in favour of Spanish engineering firm Ferrovial's controversial plan to relocate its headquarters to the Netherlands, after previously having said it would oppose the move.

The $1.4 trillion fund, which holds a 1.49% stake in Ferrovial, said on its website that it would back the plan at the company's annual general meeting on Thursday.

Ferrovial's board has said that the relocation, announced in February, would be carried out through a reverse merger with its Dutch unit. It was designed to create a platform to allow it to be eventually listed in the United States and join stock indexes there.

The relocation plan angered Spanish government officials, with Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz saying the company was ungrateful as it had benefited from public work contracts and that the move was to dodge taxes.

Government officials also said there was no need to move to the Netherlands to achieve a listing in New York.

Ferrovial spokesman Francisco Polo on Tuesday told OndaCero radio that the plan had no tax advantages.

The Norwegian fund did not explain its change of heart. It previously said on its website that it opposed such corporate moves when they lacked transparency, or when there is a risk of "unnecessary conflicts of interest".

A spokesperson for the fund did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Sharon Singleton)