By: Carrie Bay

Barclays said Friday that it has agreed to sell HomEq Servicing, its U.S. mortgage servicing business, to Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC. Ocwen will pay $1.3 billion “in cash on completion,” Barclays said.

The transaction aligns the two companies with the highest modification conversion rates under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The Treasury’s latest HAMP progress report puts both Ocwen and HomEq at the top of the servicer list when it comes to moving distressed homeowners from HAMP trials into permanent loan restructurings. Both companies have permanent mod conversion rates of 83 percent.

Ocwen’s $1.3 billion outlay for HomEq is subject to an adjustment based on the unpaid principal balance of the servicing portfolio and the value of other assets at completion of the transaction, Barclays said. HomEq currently services approximately $28 billion in mortgages.

The principal assets subject to the transaction are HomEq’s mortgage servicing rights and associated servicer advances, as well as the company’s servicing platform based in Sacramento, California and Raleigh, North Carolina.

As part of the deal, Barclays has agreed to provide Ocwen with approximately $1 billion in secured financing and may assist Ocwen in raising additional third-party financing.

The deal is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year, and is subject to regulatory approval.

Barclays says the sale is expected to have a small positive impact on its core tier one capital ratio, principally as a result of the release of capital deductions, and is not expected to have a material impact on the company’s earnings per share.

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/ocwen-buys-homeq-servicing-for-13-billion-2010-05-28