Piper’s Buyer Identified as Newport Man : Monroe Millar, Owner of 2 County Firms, Takes Over Aircraft Maker

The mystery buyer of Lear Siegler Inc.’s Piper Aircraft subsidiary was identified Wednesday as a 63-year-old Newport Beach entrepreneur, former aerospace executive and owner of two companies that manufacture compressors, laboratory test equipment, and microfilm and microfiche supplies and equipment.

Wednesday’s revelation by Piper officials that the 50-year-old general aviation manufacturer had been purchased by Monroe Stuart Millar followed a terse Tuesday announcement that Piper had been purchased for an undisclosed amount by a holding company called Romeo Charlie Inc., whose owner wanted to keep his identity secret during the sale.

Piper officials did not say why they were able to identify Millar on Wednesday, and the businessman was en route to Vero Beach, Fla., where Piper is based, and could not be reached for comment. C. Raymond Johnson, Piper’s vice president of marketing and sales, said Wednesday that Millar lives in Newport Beach and owns Newport Scientific Inc. and Consolidated Micrographics Inc., both privately held Orange County companies.

Officials at both firms refused to divulge information about Millar or his business enterprises. According to Department of Motor Vehicles records, Millar lives on the upper Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach.

A Dun & Bradstreet report identifies Millar as president and chairman of Newport Scientific and Consolidated Micrographics. From 1951 to 1961, Millar worked for North American Aviation Co., which was purchased by Rockwell International Corp. in the early 1970s.

Millar later became a self-employed consultant to several computer companies and owned a variety of manufacturing firms before starting Newport Scientific in 1979. He is a graduate of USC and is married, the report said.

Newport Scientific, based in Newport Beach, manufactures compressors and laboratory test equipment, the Dun & Bradstreet report said, and averages $3 million to $5 million in annual sales. It was incorporated in Delaware on Nov. 2, 1979, and is wholly owned by Millar.

Consolidated Micrographics manufactures a line of microfilm and microfiche equipment and supplies, including readers, duplicators, cameras and retrieval devices.

Although Dun & Bradstreet had little financial information on the Laguna Niguel company, the report said that “as is typical with companies having been acquired by a leveraged buyout, total debt is large in relationship to stockholders’ equity.” Consolidated Micrographics was purchased by Millar in 1981.

Lear Siegler, Piper’s Santa Monica-based parent company, acquired Piper when it bought Bangor Punta in 1984 for $282 million. In the two years before the sale, analysts said Piper posted $60 million in losses. Sources close to the company said its losses have continued and totaled about $10 million each in 1985 and 1986.

Johnson said Wednesday that Piper officials plan to fill the company’s backlog in its seven single- and twin-engine planes and then discontinue production of six of the models.

“The whole policy will be reviewed by Mr. Millar, and I’m sure he will be deciding what specific airplanes we will be building in the future,” Johnson said.

Analysts and other observers of the sale said Wednesday that the purchase price could range anywhere from $1 to more than $50 million, depending on how much, if any, of the company’s land was included and how its considerable product liability problems were to be handled. Piper has already reserved $120 million for lawsuits alleging that accidents occurred because of defects in its aircraft design.