New York, February 24, 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has
assigned a B2 rating to PHH Mortgage Corporation's (PMC) planned $400
million 5-year first-lien senior secured debt issuance.
In the same rating action, Moody's affirmed the company's
Caa1 corporate family rating and revised the outlook to stable from negative.
Moody's also affirmed the ratings of PMC's outstanding $185
million term loan and Ocwen Loan Servicing's (OLS) second-lien
senior secured debt totaling $292 million. The proceeds
from the issuance will be used to redeem these debts. After redemption
of the senior secured term loan, the planned senior secured debt
will have first-lien priority in PMC's funding structure.
PMC is a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation,
(Ocwen), which in the second quarter of 2019 merged OLS into PMC,
with PMC being the surviving entity.
Assignments:
..Issuer: PHH Mortgage Corporation
....Senior Secured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Assigned B2
Affirmations:
..Issuer: PHH Mortgage Corporation
....LT Corporate Family Rating, Affirmed
Caa1
....Senior Secured Bank Credit Facility,
Affirmed B2
..Issuer: Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC
....Senior Secured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Affirmed Caa2
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: PHH Mortgage Corporation
....Outlook, Revised To Stable From
Negative
RATINGS RATIONALE
The B2 rating assigned to PMC's senior secured notes is based on
PMC's Caa1 corporate family rating and the application of Moody's
Loss Given Default (LGD) for Speculative-Grade Companies methodology
and model, which incorporate their priority of claim and strength
of asset coverage.
The revision of the outlook to stable from negative reflects the benefit
to PMC's caa1 standalone assessment of the refinancing of its corporate
debt, which extends the maturity of that debt and reduces refinancing
risks, providing the firm with the runway to accomplish its strategic
plan to improve profitability. It also reflects the investment
from Oaktree Capital (Oaktree) in the form of $285 million in secured
notes into Ocwen, which will be subordinated to the new first-lien
debt, and the announcement of Ocwen's mortgage servicing rights
(MSR) joint venture with Oaktree, both of which should help the
firm grow its businesses and establish a more stable earnings profile.
PMC's Caa1 corporate family rating reflects the firm's weak
capital levels. Ocwen's weak capitalization is partly due
to the inclusion of securitized Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs)
and related liabilities on its balance sheet, as per GAAP accounting
standards. While the company does not own the underlying assets
of the securitizations, as a servicer it is required to repurchase
the FHA-insured HECM mortgages from the Ginnie Mae pools under
certain circumstances. Moody's views the credit risk of securitized
HECM loans to be modest due to the FHA insurance, which carries
the full faith and credit of the US government.
The ratings also reflect recent regulatory developments, including
the resolution of a regulatory matter in Florida in October 2020,
and the risks with respect to yet-unresolved matter regarding the
lawsuit filed in 2017 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
regarding certain legacy servicing activities. The court-ordered
mediation concluded in January 2021 with the parties unable to reach a
settlement. As a result, Ocwen increased its legal and regulatory
accrual related to the CFPB matter by $13.1 million in the
fourth quarter of 2020.
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that Ocwen will
maintain stable financial metrics in the next 12-18 months with
respect to capitalization and liquidity, and will continue to make
progress with respect to its strategic plan to improve profitability.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The ratings could be upgraded if the firm's financial performance
improves, as measured by a ratio of net income to average managed
assets consistently above 0.5%.
The ratings could be downgraded if the firm is unable to sustainably maintain
at minimum breakeven profitability capitalization weakens, as measured
by TCE/TMA below 3.0% or in the event that regulatory action
or litigation materially restricts the company's business activities,
or harms its franchise and reputation, or if the company is subject
to additional regulatory or legal action resulting in material fines or
judgments.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Finance Companies
Methodology published in November 2019 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1187099.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings
issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's
credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement
provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may
be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each
case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior
to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have
affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings
tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
The ratings have been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated
agent(s) and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
These ratings are solicited. Please refer to Moody's Policy
for Designating and Assigning Unsolicited Credit Ratings available on
its website www.moodys.com.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1243406.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the UK and is endorsed
by Moody's Investors Service Limited, One Canada Square,
Canary Wharf, London E14 5FA under the law applicable to credit
rating agencies in the UK. Further information on the UK endorsement
status and on the Moody's office that issued the credit rating is
available on www.moodys.com.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Gene Berman
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Ana Arsov
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653