Yale Cordage and I&I Sling/Slingmax Unite

Apr. 5, 2023 - River Associates Investments, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has acquired I&I Sling Inc. (I&I/Slingmax) and is pairing it with Yale Cordage, which River Associates bought in 2020.

Together, Yale Cordage and I&I/Slingmax form an industry leader in innovative custom solutions in synthetic ropes and heavy-lift slings for the utility/electric, energy/offshore, infrastructure/construction, arborist, inland marine, and commercial marine industries.

Each company will continue to operate autonomously, manufacturing in America, driving innovation through custom engineered solutions, and serving all 50 U.S. states, Canada, and other countries.

Nino M. Granatiero, Yale Cordage CEO, said “Yale Cordage is in a growth phase, with a host of new opportunities and new direction, making this an exciting time as we approach our 75th year.”

Granatiero added that Yale and I&I/Slingmax have a total of more than 230 team members focused on providing a high level of customer delivery and quality.

Scott St. Germain, CEO of I&I/Slingmax added, “Joining forces with Yale expands our breadth of synthetic rope and roundsling products and capabilities. I’m confident I&I customers and Slingmax dealers will benefit greatly from this merger, and it’s a win-win for our combined employee force as well.”

St. Germain added that the new venture strengthens combined engineering efforts to accelerate new product development and improve upon the companies’ current lines of exclusive rigging solutions.

I&I Sling has patented Slingmax Twin Path High Performance Synthetic Roundslings; Smart Sling Technology, Cornermax cut protection, Equalizer Blocks, and many other heavy-lift products.

Yale Cordage has patents on Fortis and Zipgrips. It also offers traditional and high-performance

Single- and double-braid synthetic ropes through its proprietary parallel-core and cable-grip products.