This post is part of Japan: A Special Report for Investors.

"Tokyo-based Mizuho Financial Group (MFG) is Japan's second-largest bank in terms of total assets," notes Paul Tracy.

The editor of High Yield International suggests, "Banks are typically considered cheap when they trade at a discount to their underlying book value and Mizuho currently trades at just 0.7 times book.

"The past two decades have not been kind to the Japanese banking industry, though the leading financials have been restructuring successfully.

Since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) filed for bankruptcy this morning, it means that its assets will be sold and the proceeds will go first to lenders and bondholders. If there's anything left after paying them off, it goes to the preferred shareholders. Finally, the common shareholders get the leftovers of the preferred shareholders.

This bankruptcy is the biggest in history as measured by its $639 billion in assets -- over six times bigger than the former champ, WorldCom. The bankruptcy does not include all Lehman's assets. "The Chapter 11 filing did not include Lehman's broker-dealer operations and other units, such as asset management firm Neuberger Berman. Those businesses will continue to operate, although Lehman is expected to liquidate them. It said it is in advanced talks on selling its investment management division," according to Reuters.

Many big institutions will be first in line for the proceeds of these asset sales. "Its biggest unsecured creditors are Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE: BK), Aozora Bank, and Mizuho Financial Group Inc.. Citi and Bank of New York Mellon are trustees for Lehman bonds. As of May 31, it owed about $110.5 billion on account of senior unsecured notes, about $12.6 billion on account of subordinated unsecured notes and about $5 billion on account of junior subordinated notes."

Like its peers, investors have been dour on Evercore Partners Inc. (NYSE: EVR), which is a boutique investment bank. But this week, the firm got some nice support; Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., has agreed to purchase $120 million in senior unsecured notes in Evercore. The deal also includes a warrant to purchase 5,454,545 shares at $22 a piece. In fact, Mizuho has agreed to commit $150 million to Evercore-affiliated funds.

With the credit crunch, it's always good to get a slug of cash. But the Evercore deal is more than just a capital infusion. Basically, the firm will strengthen its existing strategic alliance with Mizuho -- so as to better penetrate the Japanese marketplace. For the most part, cross-border deals are likely to become increasingly important for investment banks.

Actually, Evercore recently announced a strategic alliance with G5 Advisors, which is an investment bank in Sao Paulo. With the strong growth in Brazil, there should be some opportunities to snag assignments.

But such things take time to play out. After all, as seen with Evercore's latest quarterly report, revenues were off 9% to $60.1 million, with profits at $2.1 million, or $0.16 per share.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.