diff --git a/cmake/Templates/opm-project-config.cmake.in b/cmake/Templates/opm-project-config.cmake.in
index ccc982536..331910810 100644
--- a/cmake/Templates/opm-project-config.cmake.in
+++ b/cmake/Templates/opm-project-config.cmake.in
@@ -41,8 +41,10 @@ if(NOT @opm-project_NAME@_FOUND)
   if (NOT "@opm-project_TARGET@" STREQUAL "")
     # add the library as a target, so that other things in the project including
     # this file may depend on it and get rebuild if this library changes.
-    add_library (@opm-project_TARGET@ UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
-    set_property (TARGET @opm-project_TARGET@ PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION "${@opm-project_NAME@_LIBRARY}")
+    if(NOT TARGET @opm-project_TARGET@)
+      add_library (@opm-project_TARGET@ UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
+      set_property (TARGET @opm-project_TARGET@ PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION "${@opm-project_NAME@_LIBRARY}")
+    endif()
   endif (NOT "@opm-project_TARGET@" STREQUAL "")
 
   # ensure that we build with support for C++11 to preserve ABI