Sapporo Holdings said Wednesday that it will promote Hiroshi Tokimatsu, executive group managing officer, to the post of president.

Tokimatsu, 62, will also become president of Sapporo Breweries, becoming the first person to concurrently serve as chief of both the parent and its core unit.

The personnel changes are designed to reinforce the Japanese company's key alcoholic beverage operations.

Current Sapporo Holdings President Masaki Oga, 66, will step aside to the post of special adviser to the company.

Those changes will take effect after a shareholders' meeting in March next year.

Tokimatsu, who entered a predecessor to Sapporo Holdings in 1991, has led efforts to expand sales of Sapporo's flagship beer brand while also having experience in food and soft drink and real estate businesses.

"We need to have a sense of unity beyond the boundaries of each business field in order to grow the alcoholic beverage business," Tokimatsu said during a news conference in Tokyo.