diff --git a/dune/common/shared_ptr.hh b/dune/common/shared_ptr.hh
index 2abcb30568d9135b9e5105c896e6e1a429ce41cb..60dd3852448fbec25af3c88fb9c77036a36ddd48 100644
--- a/dune/common/shared_ptr.hh
+++ b/dune/common/shared_ptr.hh
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ namespace Dune
     class PointerRep
     {
       friend class shared_ptr<element_type>;
+    protected:
       /** @brief The number of references. */
       int count_;
       /** @brief The representative. */