Ocwen and Merrill Lynch Go Global.(Ocwen Financial Corp., Merrill Lynch and Company Inc.)(Brief Article)

Ocwen Financial Corp. has teamed up with Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch in a global partnership that matches the former's technology and servicing skills with assets the latter has around the world.

"It's really a collaboration," Thomas F. Meyer, a senior vice president at Ocwen, told MSN in a phone interview from Rome. "We'd been discussing this concept for quite some time."

According to Mr. Meyer, Merrill Lynch had wanted a "quality servicer" for international assets it has been collecting as part of efforts to expand its Principal Investment business globally. But the Wall Street firm hadn't wanted to make an investment in infrastructure. Ocwen, meanwhile, wanted to make servicing and infrastructure investments abroad, but needed an asset base.

Even after more than a year of discussion, many aspects of the joint venture were still taking shape at press time, but the foundation had clearly been laid.

The joint venture had officially been named Global Servicing Solutions LLC, and had named its first asset management servicing company - Servicing Solutions Japan Inc., Tokyo. Mr. Meyer said the latter was slated to be formed as Japan's version of a limited liability corporation with the advice and assistance of local Japanese company Tokyo Servicer Inc. Tokyo Servicer will hold a small minority stake in Servicing Solutions LLC but its role will primarily be an advisory one, Mr. Meyer said.

Where the holding company for the larger Ocwen/Merrill JV would be domiciled had not yet been officially set, but Mr. Meyer said it most likely will be Ireland. Also pending at press time was the exact names and titles of the principals in the joint venture. In addition to himself, Mr. Meyer said key executives in leading the effort would most likely include Robert Fitzpatrick, head of Asset Management for the Global Principal Investment unit at Merrill Lynch and Shinji Yoshikawa, regional head of Global Principal Investment at Merrill Lynch Japan.

The joint venture doesn't want to pigeonhole itself as servicing any particular type of asset, but at press time the bulk of its initial work in Japan was commercial mortgage-related.