CAIRO - The head of the Egyptian stock exchange said on Sunday he expects four companies in the IT, agriculture and chemicals industries to conduct initial public offerings (IPOs) in the second half of 2021.

Bourse chairman Mohamed Farid did not name any of the companies.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Egypt's financial regulator had given state-owned Banque du Caire and three other listed companies until the end of the year to complete their IPOs. 

"State-owned offerings are under the purview of the relevant ministerial committee," Farid told Reuters when asked if the bank was among the companies he mentioned.

The bank's IPO would represent the biggest sale of Egyptian state assets since 2006.

The other three listed companies given notice by the regulator were Sky Light for Touristic Development, New Castle for Investment Sports, and City Trade Securities and Brokerage, Reuters reported on Thursday.

In Egypt, companies are allowed to list on the exchange before actually offering shares to be traded.

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk Writing by Nafisa Eltahir Editing by David Goodman and Andrew Heavens) ((Nafisa.Eltahir@thomsonreuters.com;))