Ocwen Financial buys Litton for $263 million - HousingWire

Ocwen Financial buys Litton for $263 million

Ocwen Financial (OCN) acquired Houston-based mortgage servicer Litton Loan Servicing from Goldman Sachs (GS) over the weekend for $263.7 million, according to an Ocwen filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ocwen gets a servicing portfolio with an unpaid principal balance of $41.2 billion of mostly subprime residential mortgages. According to the filing, Ocwen will continue to operate the Litton platform in Houston and Dallas. Ocwen could not immediately comment on whether or not the sale will mean job cuts at Litton. Ocwen agreed to pay $337.4 million to cover outstanding debt Litton had from a Goldman affiliate. Goldman agreed to finance servicing advances to investors still outstanding at close. The advances provided by Goldman will not exceed $2.1 billion. To complete the purchase, Barclays Capital provided a term loan of $575 million to Ocwen, and also served as sole adviser to the company. BarCap sold its servicing operation, HomEq Servicing to Ocwen in a deal that closed in September. The mortgage servicing industry came under investigation from federal regulators and the 50 state attorneys general in 2010 for mishandling foreclosure documents. While Litton did not have to sign consent orders with federal regulators as major shops did in April, negotiations are still pending with the AGs. As part of the sale, Goldman agreed to retain the liabilities for fines and penalties that could possibly come from the investigation. Goldman said in a statement released Monday that it does not expect the sale to have any material impact on second-quarter earnings. “We’re delighted to have reached a deal with Goldman. The transaction significantly advances our corporate strategy going forward,” said Ocwen Executive Vice President Paul Koches said. Write to Jon Prior. Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior.

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