Kirin Brewery Co. said Monday it will appoint Senior Managing Director Koichiro Aramaki, 61, as the brewery's new president.
He will succeed Yasuhiro Sato.
The appointment will be formally approved at a board meeting in late March following a shareholders' meeting to be convened during this period, the company said.
Sato, 64, will assume the board's chairmanship, having the legal right to represent the company under the envisioned board reshuffle. President-designate Aramaki will also be given the same representative rights.
Sato has served at the helm of the company for five years since assuming the presidency in March 1996.
During his tenure, he has sought to lay the groundwork for boosting the company's profitability and sales by broadening the company's exposure to the "happoshu" malt-liquor market.
Happoshu beverages are similar in taste to conventional beer. They are, however, usually cheaper than regular beer as their low-malt content places them in a lower tax bracket.
Happoshu sales account for roughly a quarter of Japan's beer market. Aramaki, a graduate of the agriculture department of the University of Tokyo, has spearheaded Kirin's pharmaceutical business division on the strength of his career as an engineer.