Barron's acquires Winner's Circle

Barron’s magazine announced Thursday it acquired The Winner’s Circle Organization, a consulting firm based in Boca Raton, Fla., for an undisclosed price.

The firm provides analysis of financial advisory practices and rankings of advisors based on assets under management, revenue generation and practice quality.

“The acquisition of The Winner’s Circle Organization further strengthens Barron’s leadership position as a producer of premium conferences for the financial industry,” said Edwin Finn, editor and president, Barron’s, in a statement. “We are optimistic about the future of the wealth management industry, in part because investors today need more advice, and more sophisticated advice, than ever before.”

Barron’s and The Winner’s Circle have partnered for the past five years on a conference business that produces forums for financial advisors to come together and discuss the business of delivering wealth management for high-net-worth individuals and institutions. These conferences include the Investment Consultants Summit, the Top Advisors Summit and the Top Women Advisors Summit.

In recent years, Barron’s has published The Winner’s Circle rankings of The Top 100 Financial Advisors, The Top 100 Women Financial Advisors and The Top 100 Independent Advisors. To choose these advisors, The Winner’s Circle screens thousands of candidates, interviews the finalists, speaks with supervisors and reviews internal reports. This process has been put in place to identify advisors who follow the investment industry’s best practices.