Ultimate Skin in the Game?

Much chatter has been made of Ocwen's acquisition of ResCap at the bankruptcy auction (although not as much as the acquirer of its loan portfolio), but I'm much more intrigued by its pickup of Wilbur Ross's Homeward Residential.  I get the voracious appetite for servicer expansion, but what's the deal with getting into the origination market?  Does this have something to do with Dodd Frank?  Was it just a good deal?  Or does Wilbur Ross just know when to exit (although it's a part paper transaction, which means he's not really exiting entirely, just acquiring stock).  Maybe he's just fed up.

Comments

[Adam]

Basel III makes servicing unattractive to banks--hence non-banks like Ocwen are able to buy at good prices. It's not clear what the economics of servicing will be going forward. In the past, there were real economies of scale; not so clear that will continue with vastly expanded regulation. Ocwen might also be looking past the foreclosure crisis and looking to position itself not just in special servicing.