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TRANSACTIONS WITH RELATED PARTIES
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
TRANSACTIONS WITH RELATED PARTIES  
TRANSACTIONS WITH RELATED PARTIES

4.  TRANSACTIONS WITH RELATED PARTIES

 

Ocwen®

 

Ocwen is our largest customer.  Ocwen, including its wholly-owned subsidiary Ocwen Mortgage Servicing Inc. (“OMS”), are contractually obligated to purchase certain mortgage services and technology services from us under service agreements.  On October 1, 2012, the Ocwen agreement was extended by three years through 2020.  Separately, we signed a similar agreement on October 1, 2012 with OMS effective through 2020.  Ocwen and OMS are not restricted from redeveloping these services. We settle amounts with Ocwen on a daily, weekly or monthly basis depending upon the nature of the service and when the service is provided.

 

Related party revenue consists of revenue earned directly from Ocwen and its subsidiaries and revenue earned from the loans serviced by Ocwen or its subsidiaries when Ocwen determines the service provider. We earn additional revenue on the portfolios serviced by Ocwen or its subsidiaries that are not considered related party revenue when a party other than Ocwen selects the service provider.  As a percentage of each of our segment revenue and as a percentage of consolidated revenue, related party revenue was as follows for the years ended December 31:

 

 

 

2012

 

2011

 

2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mortgage Services

 

68

%

72

%

73

%

Technology Services

 

42

%

39

%

37

%

Financial Services

 

< 1

%

< 1

%

< 1

%

Consolidated revenues

 

60

%

58

%

51

%

 

We record revenue we earn from Ocwen under various long-term servicing contracts at rates we believe to be market rates as they are consistent with one or more of the following: the fees we charge to other customers for comparable services; the fees Ocwen pays to other service providers; fees commensurate with market surveys prepared by unaffiliated firms; and fees charged by our competitors.  As of January 1, 2011, we modified our pricing for IT infrastructure and support services within our Technology Services segment from a rate card model primarily based on headcount to a fully loaded cost plus mark-up where cost is allocated based on the underlying cost driver.

 

Support Services

 

On August 10, 2012, we entered into a five-year support services agreement with OMS (the “Support Services Agreement”), setting forth certain services Altisource and OMS will provide to each other which are similar to the services Altisource and Ocwen provided to each other pursuant to a transition services agreement.  These services include such areas as human resources, vendor management, corporate services, six sigma, quality assurance, quantitative analytics, treasury, accounting, risk management, legal, strategic planning and compliance. Payment for the services provided is based on the fully-allocated cost of providing the service based on an estimate of the time and expense of providing the service. For the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, we billed Ocwen $2.7 million, $2.6 million and $1.8 million, respectively, and Ocwen billed us $2.4 million, $1.9 million and $1.1 million, respectively, for services provided under this agreement. These amounts are reflected as a component of selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.

 

Unsecured Term Loan

 

On December 27, 2012, we entered into a senior unsecured term loan agreement with Ocwen (the “Ocwen Term Loan”) under which we loaned $75.0 million to Ocwen. Payments of interest are due quarterly at a rate per annum equal to the Eurodollar Rate (as defined in the agreement) plus 6.75%, provided that the Eurodollar Rate shall at no time be less than 1.50%.  In certain circumstances, we may require the Ocwen Term Loan to bear interest at the Base Rate (as defined in the agreement), which shall at no time be less than 8.25%. Interest income related to this loan was $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2012.

 

Ocwen is required to repay the entire outstanding principal amount of the Ocwen Term Loan plus all accrued and unpaid interest when it repays in full, refinances or replaces its Senior Credit Facility (as defined in the agreement).  If its Senior Credit Facility is not repaid in full, refinanced or replaced on or prior to October 1, 2013, then we may require Ocwen to convert all or a portion of the outstanding principal amount and all or a portion of the unpaid interest accrued on the term loan into (i) an investment in or of Homeward Residential Holdings Inc. (“Homeward Residential”), a recent acquisition made by Ocwen, (ii) property or assets of Homeward Residential, (iii) equity interests of Homeward Residential, or (iv) if we and Ocwen agree, any other assets of Ocwen or its subsidiaries.  The entire outstanding principal amount of the term loan is due on March 1, 2017 and may be prepaid earlier without penalty.

 

The Ocwen Term Loan agreement contains representations, warranties, covenants, terms and conditions customary for transactions of this type.

 

Acquisition of Fee Based Businesses

 

On January 31 2013, we entered into letters of intent with Ocwen to acquire certain fee based businesses associated with Ocwen’s acquisition of Homeward Residential and the anticipated acquisition of the Residential Capital, LLC (“ResCap”) servicing portfolio (see Note 23 for additional information).

 

Correspondent One and HLSS

 

In July 2011, we acquired an equity interest in Correspondent One (see Note 10). We provide Correspondent One certain finance, human resources, legal support, facilities, technology, vendor management and risk management services. For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, we billed Correspondent One $0.4 million and $0.1 million, respectively, under a services agreement

 

Home Loan Servicing Solutions, Ltd. (“HLSS”) is a public company whose primary objective is the acquisition of mortgage servicing rights and advances. In connection with the February 2012 HLSS initial public offering, HLSS acquired mortgage servicing related assets from Ocwen. Our Chairman is also the Chairman of HLSS. We provide HLSS certain finance, human resources and legal support services. For the year ended December 31, 2012, we billed HLSS $0.6 million under a services agreement (no comparative amounts in 2011 or 2010).

 

These amounts are reflected as a component of selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.

 

We also provide certain origination related services to Correspondent One.  We earned revenue of $0.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2012 from the provision of these services (no comparative amounts in 2011 or 2010).

 

Residential and AAMC

 

For purposes of governing certain of the ongoing relationships between Altisource, Residential and AAMC after the Separation of the Residential Asset Businesses, and to provide for an orderly transition to the status of three independent companies, we entered into certain agreements with Residential and AAMC. A brief description of these agreements is as follows:

 

·                  Separation Agreement (with each of Residential and AAMC) — These agreements provide for, among other things, the principal corporate transactions required to effect the Separation of the Residential Asset Businesses and certain other agreements relating to the continuing relationship between Altisource and each of the separate companies and their respective affiliates after the Separation of the Residential Asset Businesses.

·                  Master Services Agreement (with Residential) — This agreement provides for Altisource’s offering of certain services to Residential in connection with their business for an initial term of 15 years, which will automatically renew for successive two-year terms unless either party sends a notice to the other party at least nine months before the completion of the initial or renewal term. Services provided by us under this agreement include property management, lease management and renovation management services associated with single-family rental assets acquired by Residential.

·                  Support Services Agreement (with each of Residential and AAMC) — Under these agreements, Altisource provide services to each entity, similar to those services provided to Ocwen described above, where Residential and AAMC may need assistance and support following the Separation of the Residential Asset Businesses.  The Support Services Agreement will extend for two years after the date of the Separation of the Residential Asset Businesses but may be terminated earlier under certain circumstances. Payment for the services provided is based on the fully-allocated cost of providing the service.

·                  Tax Matters Agreement (with each of Residential and AAMC) — These agreements set out each party’s rights and obligations with respect to deficiencies and refunds, if any, of Luxembourg, United States federal, state, local or other foreign taxes for periods before and after the date of Separation of the Residential Asset Businesses and related matters such as the filing of tax returns and the conduct of Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and other audits.  In general, under these agreements, Residential and AAMC will be responsible for taxes attributable to their businesses incurred after the separation and we will be responsible for taxes attributable to their businesses incurred prior to the separation.

·                  Trademark License Agreement (with each of Residential and AAMC) — These agreements grant Residential and AAMC a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, royalty free license to use the name “Altisource.”  The agreement has no specified term and may be terminated by either party upon 30 days written notice.

·                  Technology Products Services Agreement (with AAMC) — This agreement provides for Altisource’s offering of certain technology products support services to AAMC in connection with its business, for a term of 15 years, but may be terminated earlier under certain circumstances.  The price of these services is based on the fully-allocated cost of providing the service.