Ocwen to acquire Ally mortgage servicing rights

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Ally Bank, the banking subsidiary of Ally Financial, is selling the majority of its mortgage servicing rights portfolio to Ocwen Financial Corp for $585 million, the bank said on Tuesday.

The deal will help Ally, the bailed-out auto lender that is 74 percent-owned by the U.S. government, raise money to pay back taxpayers.

Under the deal, Ocwen will have the right to collect payments on $90 billion of loans, the bank said. As part of the agreement, Ally has the right to sell its remaining mortgage servicing rights portfolio, which is in excess of $30 billion, to Ocwen.

For Ocwen, the purchase will further fuel its explosive growth. The company's servicing portfolio has increased in size by more than six times since 2009, according to Compass Point Research & Trading.

Reuters reported that Ocwen was in the lead to by Ally's MSR portfolio earlier this year.