Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) is a dog of a brokerage house and a broken company. Yet, every time Wall Street turns around, some other financial company is considering investing in it. According to Reuters, "HSBC and the Chinese bank, along with top U.S. hedge funds, are competing with Korea Development Bank."

The fascination with Lehman is fascinating. While it may have a strong money management arm, the value of its commercial property portfolio is falling apart. It has the same kind of toxic mortgage-backed paper on its balance sheet as the one that plagues the balance of the financial industry. If they have any sense, top managers at Lehman will be getting out.

If investors are right about Lehman, the company may not make it. The stock trades at $16, down from a 52-week high of almost $68. With a market cap of only $11 billion, a $5 billion investment could push shares to below $9.

Credit markets are supposed to get worse this year. At least that is what the newspapers say. Lehman is as likely to be further damaged by that as any other large financial firm.

A few outside investors see something in Lehman that the markets don't. Perhaps they would be willing to share that with the rest of the world.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

The Associated Press reports that the head of Korean Development Bank (KDB) has revealed that he and a consortium of other Korean investors are in talks to acquire Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH). Rumors of a KDB deal were floated last month, but KDB refused to confirm them. Now, perhaps talks are further along.

Where do such talks stand now? AP quotes KDB Governor Min Euoo-sung who "said that discussions were under way to form a consortium with private banks as (we) believe it is more desirable to acquire Lehman Brothers jointly rather than alone." Min is no stranger to Lehman -- AP reports that Min was "CEO of Lehman Brothers' South Korean operations until taking the helm of KDB earlier this year."

These talks come as Lehman reportedly is in talks with China's CITIC Securities or sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Qatar to inject $6 billion in capital into Lehman. With all this smoke, could there be fire? We'll soon see. But the odds that Lehman will remain independent continue to tumble.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.