Ocwen CEO’s Bid to Take Servicer Private Fails

Ocwen Financial Corporation, one of the nation’s larger subprime servicers, said Wednesday that a bid led by the company’s CEO to take it private had failed. Chief William Erbey had originally sought to take the servicer private in mid-January amid speculation that the stand-alone servicer was facing mounting losses over increasing operating costs. In a press statement, the company said it had been unable to agree to terms with a syndicate led by Erbey, Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. and Angelo, Gordon & Co., L.P. to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the Company for $7.00 per share in cash. The company said a special committee will “continue to consider possible strategic opportunities,” but did not specify what opportunities were under consideration. Such language is usually reserved for use when a company is looking to sell itself. Calls to the company were not immediately returned. For more information, visit http://www.ocwen.com. Disclosure: The author owned no positions in OCN when this story was originally published. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.