Ocwen Financial Corp. and Walter Investment Management Corp. have teamed up to top Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc's starting bid for Residential Capital LLC's mortgage business, ensuring a bankruptcy auction goes ahead next week, Reuters reported on Friday. The consortium offered to buy the mortgage business for $40 million more than Nationstar's $2.45 billion opening bid, though Nationstar was expected to make an updated bid. Several other potential buyers that had shown interest in the business, including private equity firm Blackstone Group and technology company IBM Corp, were not expected to submit offers, potentially leaving Nationstar and the Ocwen-Walter group as the main contenders.
