The Company was founded in 1920 as a manufacturer of parking meters trading as Fisher Limited. The name was subsequently changed to Fisher Karpark Industries ('FKI'). In 1987 it merged with Babcock International to form FKI Babcock but then demerged the heavy engineering parts of Babcock again in 1989. The Company was taken private by buyout firm Melrose in July 2008 in a deal worth over £500 million.