Reuters-

Ocwen Financial Corp (OCN.N) is in the lead to buy mortgage servicing rights on $122 billion of loans from Ally Bank, three people familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

The deal is expected to be valued at around $1 billion and could be announced soon, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified because details of the auction are not public.

Ally, the U.S. auto lender that is 74 percent-owned by the U.S. government, received five offers for the mortgage servicing rights and the outcome of the auction is not certain, the source said.

While Ocwen is currently the lead bidder, its offer is “neck and neck” with that of another bidder, a second source said.

[REUTERS]