An agreement to pay some Goldman Sachs partners a fixed multiple of the value of their capital stake in the firm could jeopardise its flotation plans, according to sources at the US investment bank.

Goldman has over 100 limited partners, individuals who have retired from the partnership and who are entitled to the fixed multiple.

They have been guaranteed 1.55 times the book value of their current capital stake in the 129-year-old partnership, a formula which Goldman may now try to renegotiate in the light of a rapid fall in the value of Wall Street investment banks.

If it does not and the limited partners elect to opt for shares totalling the amount guaranteed to them, these stakes will eat into the shares given to existing partners and the handouts promised to staff who do not yet have an interest.

Goldman has not so far made public exactly how it intends to divide the flotation cake, but the 190 partners - including former Attorney General and European Commissioner, Mr Peter Sutherland - currently working at the prestigious investment bank have been given a suggested range which will make them all multi-millionaires.