Financial services holding company Ocwen Financial Corp. will acquire mortgage origination and servicing platform PHH Corp. for approximately $360 million in cash in a deal expected to close later this year.

On a combined basis, as of Dec. 31, 2017, the company would service 1.9 million loans with an unpaid principal balance of $328 billion and originate over $3 billion of residential mortgage loans, including reverse mortgages, annually. Ocwen projects that the increased size and scale of the combined company should create various strategic and financial benefits.

It is anticipated that at closing, which is expected to occur during the second half of 2018 following various required approvals, there will be sufficient available cash on PHH’s balance sheet to enable $260 million of the $360 million purchase price to be funded out of PHH’s available cash, while providing for sufficient additional liquidity to fund its operations going forward. Ocwen will also assume $119 million of PHH’s outstanding corporate debt.

“PHH is a high-quality servicer with complementary capabilities and business lines to Ocwen, making it a great strategic match for us,” Ron Faris, Ocwen president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are also excited by the opportunity to welcome the PHH employees to the Ocwen family and by the opportunity to bring our industry-leading and innovative loss mitigation capabilities to existing PHH servicing customers currently struggling with their mortgage payments.”

At $11 per diluted common share, the purchase price represents a 35 percent discount to PHH’s GAAP book equity at Dec. 31, 2017. The acquisition is subject to various closing conditions, including PHH shareholder approval and regulatory and other approvals, and is targeted to close in the second half of 2018.

Barclays is serving as lead financial advisor to Ocwen and Sullivan and Cromwell LLP is serving as its legal counsel.