Foreign companies are increasingly showing interest in Africa, which has been regarded as the next frontier for growth.

The second major acquisition in Africa by Singapore-based Temasek Holdings in six months shows the growing interest in a continent where many countries are expanding faster than developed markets.

The state-owned investment company will buy a stake in Nigeria’s Seven Energy International Limited for $150m, the energy company said in a statement.

This follows the announcement in November of a $1.3bn investment in three gas blocks offshore Tanzania by Temasek’s liquefied natural gas unit Pavilion Energy Pte, according to a Bloomberg report.

… “One has to have a very high-risk appetite to invest in a failed state like Nigeria,” Friedrich Wu, an adjunct associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore said in an e-mail.

“After the BRIC economies, investors are chasing the next frontier markets to pour their money in. Africa has been talked up by various analysts and the media, but it could turn out to be a nightmare or quagmire.”