Ocwen Financial’s (OCN) exodus from agency servicing just took another giant step forward.
The company announced Wednesday morning that it intends to sell a $9.6 billion mortgage servicing rights portfolio to Green Tree Servicing, a subsidiary of Walter Investment Management (WAC).
According to the companies, the portfolio consists of approximately 55,500 “largely performing” loans owned by Freddie Mac.
The announcement comes one day after reports surfaced that Ocwen intended to sell a $45 billion portfolio of agency servicing to JPMorgan Chase (JPM).
The sale to JPMorgan Chase was first hinted at in a March filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
At the time, Ocwen disclosed several sizeable transactions involving its mortgage servicing rights, including the recently announced sale a $9.8 MSR billion portfolio to Nationstar Mortgage (NSM).
Additionally, Ocwen disclosed in March that it agreed to sell a MSR portfolio consisting of approximately 277,000 performing agency loans owned by Fannie Mae with a total unpaid principal balance of approximately $45 billion to an undisclosed buyer, which turned out to be JPMorgan Chase.
In December, Ocwen CEO Ron Faris said the company planned to exit agency servicing entirely.
At the time, Faris said that Ocwen plans to sell off its entire portfolio of agency servicing. “We estimate the difference between our $1.1 billion book value and fair value of our agency MSRs is between $400 and $500 million dollars,” Faris said.
“In addition to potentially realizing these gains, we have the potential to free up $200 to $300 million currently allocated to fund agency advances,” Faris added. “This strategy has the potential to free up over $1.7 billion of capital to invest in new businesses, to reduce leverage, or to return to shareholders over time.”
According to a release from Ocwen and Walter, the companies expect this most recent deal to close by April 30 and the loan servicing to transfer in May.
But the deal is subject to a definitive agreement and will still require approval by Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Earlier this month, Ocwen said that it is “on track” to sell agency MSRs for approximately $55 billion in unpaid principal balance in the next six months for prices “significantly above” its estimated carrying value.
"We are pleased with the progress we are making on executing our plan,” Faris said of the Green Tree MSR sale. “Over the next several months, we expect to generate proceeds of at least $650 million from sales and transfers of mortgage servicing rights. We are also committed to ensuring a smooth and accurate transfer of information to the buyers of these mortgage servicing rights."
