Cristóbal Manuel López is an Argentine businessman. He runs the business conglomerate Grupo Indalo, which encompasses diverse activities such as media, gambling, food, fuel, construction, and more.
Cristóbal López was born in the city of Buenos Aires but spent his childhood and much of his life in Rada Tilly, Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut. His parents migrated from Spain to Argentina in the late 1950s and settled in the country, where they established a forage company
In Comodoro, López began dating Muriel Lucía Sosa, cousin of former governor Sergio Acevedo, whom he would later marry while they were both in high school. He was a student at the Domingo Savio Technical School and the Perito Moreno Institute. By the age of fifteen, he was already working, selling chickens and vegetables with a van his father had given him.
After the death of his parents in 1976, López took charge of the family business, expanding its operations to include the transport of solid and liquid cargo under the name Transportes Cristóbal López SRL.
Grupo Indalo
During the 1990s, Cristóbal López acquired the Scania and Toyota dealerships in Patagonia and changed the company’s name to Clear SRL. His business ventures expanded into casino management in Comodoro, passenger transport (Empresa Indalo in Neuquén), and olive plantations (Promet SA).
In 1999, López’s companies were formally grouped under the name Grupo Indalo. The group’s activities later focused on the oil sector with the creation of Oil M&S, Oil Construcciones, and eventually Oil Combustibles, all dedicated to the exploitation and commercialization of fuel.
Grupo Indalo then expanded into the media sector. It began with the acquisition of C5N and Radio 10 from Daniel Hadad in 2012, followed by the purchase of the production company Ideas del Sur in 2013 and 60% of the newspaper Campo Financiero in 2015.
He is associated by various media outlets and public figures with Kirchnerism. López does not deny his sympathy for the Kirchners but claims he was already successful before them. He defines himself as part of the “national bourgeoisie that bets on the country.”