Shigeaki Wada, who has successfully navigated the Sogo department store chain out of bankruptcy, began his second successive resuscitation job Friday, taking the helm of now troubled Seibu Department Stores Ltd.

Wada had originally come from Seibu, which decided to sponsor Sogo's rehabilitation more than two years ago.

The two store operators will merge their operations under a holding company in June, creating a department store chain with combined annual sales of more than 1 trillion yen -- comparable to No. 2 Mitsukoshi Ltd.