The failed supermarket chain Mycal Corp. announced Friday that Kazuo Urano, a director, has taken over the presidency from Kozo Yamashita, who only held the post for two weeks.

The change will make it easier for Mycal to find backers for its stores and seek financial support from its main banks, including Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, company officials said.

Yamashita, 52, only took over the presidency from Osamu Shikata on Sept. 14, when Mycal, Japan's fourth-largest supermarket chain, filed for court protection from creditors with 1.74 trillion yen in group liabilities.

Yamashita, who used to be in charge of reforming the firm, said his resignation will increase the transparency of auctions the company will hold to select backers for its rehabilitation.

He had been pushing for an alliance with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a major U.S. retailer, before Mycal collapsed. If Yamashita had remained in the presidency, the fairness of the planned auctions might have been undermined, company sources said.

In addition, his resignation will help Mycal get necessary support from DKB.

DKB was reportedly opposed to Mycal's decision to apply for protection under the fast-track corporate rehabilitation law that Yamashita decided upon. The bank and Shikata had planned to use the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, which is stricter on apportioning management responsibility.

Lawyer Hideyuki Sakai, who is in charge of Mycal's rehabilitation, said one of the new management team's major tasks is to rebuild relationships with its main banks and get financial support from them.

Mycal also announced it will borrow 10 billion yen from Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., which provides Mycal with financial advice, under a debtors-in-possession finance scheme. The DIP finance system enables the provision of loans to companies undergoing rehabilitation at higher interest rates.

Urano, 55, said Mycal's daily sales have decreased about 25 percent from the same period last year since the firm announced its bankruptcy.

The collapse of Mycal is the largest failure of a company outside the financial sector since department store chain Sogo Co. went under in July 2000 with debts of some 1.87 trillion yen.