Ferdinand Anker

Ferdinand Osvald Conrad Anker (12 December 1876 – 23 April 1954) was a Norwegian businessperson.

Pre-war career Anker was born in Christiania, attended commerce school and resided in Germany and France between 1897 and 1899. In 1899 he started his own company, trading in iron, steel and other construction metals. He later expanded the company with the selling of agricultural machinery. In 1910 he abandoned the company he had started in order to take the head job of P. Schreiner sen. & Co, a company ran by his father beforehand.

Anker became a board member of Kværner Brug in 1910, and advanced to chairman in 1914. He also chaired Myrens Verksted, Moss Værft & Dokk, Landbruk Maskin (in both Oslo and Florø), A/S Staal & Jern and Jernmetal. supervisory council member of Nationaltheatret and Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse, and also chaired two philanthropical institutions run by his family. Heavily engaged in politics, Anker was a member of the financial committee of the Conservative Party's central board from 1909 to 1916. From 1925 he chaired the employers' association Jerngrossistenes Forening.

Anker pleaded not guilty, and referred to his office manager who handled the daily affairs. , This represents about in currency (about ). In 1950 Anker was sued, as chairman of Moss Værft & Dokk, by Øivind Lorentzen's company Sobral. Sobral claimed that Moss Værft & Dokk neglected their contract agreement regarding the construction of two vessels during the war. First, claimed Sobral, Moss Værft & Dokk had instead used their capacity on arming whaling vessels. The two vessels had been delayed, and when they were completed, they had been taken over by Kriegsmarine as minesweepers. The court case lasted several years, reaching the Court of Appeal in 1954.

Anker was decorated as a Commander, Second Class of the Belgian Royal Order of the Lion before the Second World War.