Shield Manufacturing seeks to 'revolutionize' health care with EBW acquisition

ALPHARETTA, Ga.—Shield Manufacturing L.L.C. says it will "revolutionize" health care innovation and manufacturing led by women with its latest acquisition.

In celebration of International Women's Day, Shield Manufacturing, a women-led PPE design, development and manufacturing company, announced in a March 7 news release that it has acquired EBW Cares Distributors Inc., a women-owned and women-led international PPE distributor.

While details of the deal were not disclosed, it is estimated to be valued at over $100 million, according to the news release.

"The acquisition comes in the wake of the collapse of the global health care supply chain and the rise of new companies in the PPE space," Shield said.

The deal will allow the two companies to bring together their "expertise in technology, sales, marketing, engineering, financing, operational management, quality control and product development" to bring high-quality health care products to America, it said.

EBW Cares Distributors is a new health care company founded by the Empowering a Billion Women (EBW) Worldwide organization.

In February 2022, EBW Worldwide announced plans to build a nitrile butadiene rubber plant. The privately held company said the "state-of-the-art" NBR facility was to be located in southern Texas.

According to the 2022 press release, it was "the first of a series of planned plants being developed."

EBW is ranked as one of the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.

Shield said the companies' first priority is to build a clean room glove facility in Sandersville, Ga., according to the press release. The plant is expected to produce over 2.2 billion gloves annually in its first phase.

Shield's American-made and Berry compliant clean room gloves will serve pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech, chip manufacturing and other controlled professional lab environments, the company said.

"We are excited to have acquired EBW Cares Distributors and to work together to transform health care and other PPE products here in America and beyond," Alison Bagwell, CEO of Shield Manufacturing, said in a statement. "Our combined teams bring the expertise, leadership, innovation, customer service and more."

Ingrid Vanderveldt, CEO of EBW Cares Distributors, said EBW is "honored" to be part of this deal.

"It is our honor to be part of the one company and one team here in America that hands-down are the world's experts in PPE, glove, and clean room manufacturing," she said. "With Shield, they bring the proprietary expertise, relationships and know-how that is already sought out by the top health care companies and will help us in achieving the goal of becoming America's leaders in PPE manufacturing."

Bagwell is an engineer, formerly with Kimberly Clark, and has over 50 patents, 75 percent of which are used today and have driven over $500 million in combined sales over the past 10 years.

Vanderveldt, now a technologist and financier developing systems that use data and AI to optimize supply and demand in the health care space, was the former entrepreneur in resident of Dell. She has led ventures and initiatives that have driven over $1 billion in impact, reaching over 700 million people worldwide.

Shield is preselling its clean room gloves. Interested parties can email Todd Wright at [email protected]

Bagwell and Vanderveldt also will be onsite at the XSXW Conference March 10-13 in Austin, Texas.