Kao Corp. said Monday that Toshio Takayama, president of Kao Hanbai Co., will become chairman of Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., which Kao is due to acquire from the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan later this month.

His appointment will become official when approved at a meeting of shareholders scheduled for Jan. 31.

Takayama has taken charge of the cosmetics businesses of Kao and its group firm in the past.

When it was decided Dec. 16 that Kao would acquire Kanebo Cosmetics from the IRCJ, the household product and cosmetics firm said Kunihiko Yogo, chairman of the latter firm who had been dispatched by the IRCJ, would step down.