diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c4c179ae0c3adaff98b62ce2d2d0832427cfa8cb..1d1d7b8274c48f93a5b4900b19319777293b9fd7 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1025,6 +1025,7 @@ if(HAVE_SOLVER)
       if(PLIBS_BASIC)
         string(REPLACE "PETSC_EXTERNAL_LIB_BASIC = " "" PLIBS_BASIC ${PLIBS_BASIC})
         string(STRIP ${PLIBS_BASIC} PLIBS_BASIC)
+        separate_arguments(PLIBS_BASIC)
         list(APPEND EXTERNAL_LIBRARIES "${PLIBS_BASIC}")
       endif(PLIBS_BASIC)
       string(REGEX MATCH "PCC_LINKER_LIBS = [^\n\r]*" LLIBS ${PETSC_VARIABLES})