Ocwen to buy Homeward Residential from WL Ross for $750 mln

Oct 3 (Reuters) - Loan servicer Ocwen Financial Corp will buy Homeward Residential Holdings Inc from private equity firm WL Ross & Co LLC in a deal valued at about $750 million.

Ocwen will pay $588 million in cash and offer $162 million convertible stock to buy the company, which services 422,000 mortgage loans, it said in a statement.

The deal is expected to immediately add to Ocwen's earnings.

Ocwen shares were up 3 percent in trading before the bell. They closed at $28.96 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.