The Company was founded by Richard Fairey in 1915, as the Fairey Aviation Company with the objective of manufacturing seaplanes. In 1980 the business was acquired by Pearson from which it was the subject of a management buy-out in 1987. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1988. In the 1990s the Company focused on electronics selling its electrical insulator and hydraulic actuator businesses. In 1997 it acquired Burnfield, a measuring instruments manufacturer, and in 1999 it bought Servomex, an industrial instruments manufacturer. In 2000 it bought four instrumentation businesses from Spectris A.G. of Germany and then in 2001 changed its name to Spectris plc. In 2002 it bought the Philips Analytical business. In 2011, Spectris bought Omega Engineering for $475 million. In December 2012 it sold Fusion UV to Heraeus Holding, GmbH. for US$172 million in cash, using the proceeds to pay down debt. In 2014 it acquired ESG Solutions, an industry leader and pioneer in microseismic technology and services for the oil and gas, mining and geotechnical industries. In January 2018, Spectris Group acquired Concept Life Sciences from the private equity firm Equistone Partners for £163m. In April 2018, Spectris acquired Revolutionary Engineering from company management for $19m USD on a debt and cash-free basis and merged the company into the Spectris owned subsidiary, Millbrook Proving Ground. In July 2018, Spectris acquired the leading provider of turnkey solutions, VI-Grade for an undisclosed sum. It joined Spectris as an independent company; however, following changes in the business merged with Spectris owned HBK in February 2020. Spectris had been expected to be taken over by Bain Capital and Advent International in what would have been one of the largest debt-fuelled takeovers of a publicly listed British company in 2018. The company announced on 22 December 2018 that the deal had collapsed due to political uncertainty in the United Kingdom. In July 2018, Andrew Heath was announced as the new CEO of Spectris following the retirement of John O’Higgins. O'Higgins served as CEO of Spectris for 12 years. Heath formally joined Spectris as the CEO in September 2018. In September 2019 it announced the divestment of BTG to Voith for total gross cash consideration of €319 million. In January 2020, Spectris announcement the divestment of EMS Brüel & Kjær, a joint venture with Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Limited. Spectris and Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Limited divested EMS Brüel & Kjær to Envirosuite Limited, an environmental management technology company. Spectris received AUD35 million cash, less repayment of EMS B&K's debt facility on completion, and 10 million shares in Envirosuit in consideration.
