WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., May 16, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) shareholders elected seven directors yesterday to one-year terms at the annual meeting of the Company, including one new director, Ronald M. Faris, who has served as President of Ocwen since 2001. The shareholders reelected William C. Erbey, William H. Lacy, W. Michael Linn, W.C. Martin, Herbert B. Tasker, and Barry N. Wish.
In addition, the shareholders approved the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the independent auditor of the Company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2003 and the amendments to the 1998 Annual Incentive Plan that authorize the grant of restricted stock as part of employee incentive compensation.
Separately, Ocwen announced today that it is initiating a stock repurchase program to purchase approximately 700,000 shares of its common stock. Ocwen has approximately 67 million shares of common stock outstanding. Ocwen intends to utilize these shares of stock as a portion of its annual incentive awards to employees for service in 2002.
Purchases under the stock repurchase program may be made from time-to-time in the open market at the discretion of the management of the Company or under a written plan for purchasing the common stock. Purchases under the program may be commenced or suspended at any time or from time-to-time without prior notice with purchase decisions to be made based on a number of considerations.
Ocwen Financial Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Company's primary business is the servicing and special servicing of non-conforming, sub-performing and non-performing residential and commercial mortgage loans. Ocwen also specializes in the development of related loan servicing technology and software for the mortgage and real estate industries. Additional information about Ocwen Financial Corporation is available at www.ocwen.com.