PHH CORPORATION (NYSE:PHH) Files An 8-K Other EventsItem 8.01. Other Events.
This Current Report on Form8-K discloses certain additional information relating to the proposed merger (the “merger”) of POMS Corp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation (“Ocwen”), with and into PHH Corporation, a Maryland corporation (the “Company” or “PHH”), with the Company surviving the merger and becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocwen, on the terms and conditions of that certain Agreement and Plan of merger dated February27, 2018 (the “merger agreement”) by and among Ocwen, Merger Sub and the Company.
Following the announcement of the proposed merger with Ocwen on February27, 2018, five purported class actions were filed against the Company and its directors in connection with the merger in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey: Lei v. PHH Corporation, et. al., Case No.1:18-cv-07934 (the “Lei Action”), was filed on April17, 2018, Smith v. PHH Corporation, et. al., Case No.1:18-cv-8396 (the “Smith Action”), was filed on April26, 2018, Shaev v. PHH Corporation, et. al., Case No.1:18-cv-08847 (the “Shaev Action”), was filed on May4, 2018, Franchi v. PHH Corporation, et. al., Case No.2:18-cv-09006 (the “Franchi Action” and together with the Lei Action, the Smith Action and the Shaev Action, the “Actions”), was filed on May9, 2018 and Fratis v. PHH Corporation, et. al., Case No.1:18-cv-9674 (the “Fratis Actions”), was filed on May24, 2018. On June1, 2018, the plaintiff in the Fratis Action voluntarily dismissed its case. The plaintiffs in the Actions purport to sue on behalf of a class consisting of all of our common stockholders except for the defendants and their affiliates. In support of their request for injunctive and other relief, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants violated various provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, because the public disclosures the Company has made concerning the proposed merger with Ocwen allegedly are false and misleading. Additionally, one of the plaintiffs alleges that the members of the Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties by approving the sale of the Company to Ocwen at an inadequate price after an inadequate process. As previously disclosed by the Company, the Actions seek an injunction preventing consummation of the proposed merger, rescission of the merger if it is consummated, the award of damages in an unspecified amount, and the award of litigation expenses in an unspecified amount.
This Current Report on Form8-K discloses certain additional information with respect to the allegations made by the plaintiffs in the Actions. The Company denies the allegations in the Actions, believes that the definitive proxy statement filed by PHH with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on April27, 2018 disclosed all material information, and denies that any supplemental disclosure is necessary. Nonetheless, the Company is disclosing this information solely for the purpose of avoiding the expense and inconvenience of litigation and has agreed with the plaintiffs, among other things, to make these additional disclosures concerning the proposed merger, and the plaintiffs have agreed that they would make no effort to prevent completion of the proposed merger and dismiss their respective complaints with prejudice. The resolution of the Actions will have no impact on the timing of the special meeting of PHH’s stockholders to approve the merger.
SUPPLEMENT TO PROXY STATEMENT
The following information supplements the definitive proxy statement filed by the Company with the SEC on April27, 2018 (the “proxy statement”), and mailed to stockholders on or about May1, 2018, and should be read in conjunction with the proxy statement, which should be read in its entirety, including the annexes thereto. To the extent that information herein differs from or updates information contained in the proxy statement, the information contained herein supersedes the information contained in the proxy statement. All pagereferences in the information below are to pagesin the proxy statement, and defined terms used but not defined herein have the meanings set forth in the proxy statement. Without admitting in any way that any of the disclosures below are material or required by the federal securities laws, state fiduciary law, or any other applicable rule, statute, regulation or law, PHH makes the following additional disclosures:
The following new footnote (a)is added to the “Direct Expense” line item on the table providing a summary of the Financial Projections appearing in the section of the proxy statement captioned “Proposal 1-The Approval of the Merger Proposal—Unaudited Financial Projections” on page45 of the proxy statement:
(a) Expenses that are directly associated with operating the mortgage production and mortgage servicing business.