diff --git a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/persist/MergeHandler.java b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/persist/MergeHandler.java
index ddd34e527..d8bcba0ee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/persist/MergeHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/persist/MergeHandler.java
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
  */
 class MergeHandler {
 
-  private final Pattern PATH_SPLIT = Pattern.compile("\\.");
+  private static final Pattern PATH_SPLIT = Pattern.compile("\\.");
 
   private final SpiEbeanServer server;
   private final BeanDescriptor<?> desc;