Japan's leading department store chain, Mitsukoshi Ltd., plans to name senior executive director Taneo Nakamura as company president, company sources said.
Kazuo Inoue, 70, the departing president, has been in the job since 1998. He will be retained as an adviser to the company.
The reshuffle was expected to be formalized at a board meeting Thursday.
Nakamura, 65, who joined Mitsukoshi in 1961 after graduating from Keio University, took up his post as senior executive director in March 1999.
Inoue took over the helm of the Mitsukoshi group in January 1998 and has been credited for reviving the fortunes of the company, which was hit by huge losses in its golf resort business.
Nakamura was a key Inoue supporter in his capacity as head of Mitsukoshi's sales division when Inoue launched a radical restructuring program, liquidating assets that were not key to Mitsukoshi's main department store business and pushing more than 1,000 employees into early retirement.