Pepper Australia has launched a competing bid for RHG, offering 1.9 cents per share more than the offer from the bidding syndicate that includes Resimac.RHG, which manages the remains of Rams Home Loans' mortgage portfolio, has been in negotiations with suitors for most of this year. On Monday, the RHG board recommended an offer of 44.1 cents a share from a syndicate made up of Resimac and the Australian Mortgage Acquisition Company.Pepper's offer is for 46 cents a share. In a statement issued yesterday, it said the offer price would not be reduced by a proposed dividend payment of three cents a share to RHG shareholders.Pepper has submitted a binding offer for 100 per cent of RHG shares and a merger implementation agreement.The RHG board said in a statement that it would consider the offer, as permitted under the merger implementation deed it has entered into with the Resimac syndicate. It may not enter into a competing arrangement unless the Resimac syndicate has had an opportunity to consider whether to provide a counter-proposal.Pepper has a strong debt-servicing business and has bought a number of debt portfolios in the past few years. Most notably, in August 2011 it bought GE Capital's A$5 billion Australian mortgage portfolio.