The sale of shares by UK Financial Investment (UKFI), the government body which manages the shares, took the government's stake in the bank down to 5.95 percent.
Lloyds Banking Group shares closed at 65.90 pence (80 U.S. cents) on Friday. The government bought the shares at an average price of 73.60 pence each when it bailed out the bank with a 43-percent stake in 2008, as the financial crisis put Lloyds on the edge of closure.
The British government's investment to save Lloyds was 20.3 billion pounds, and it said in a statement that it had recouped 18 billion pounds of that so far.
Late last year, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond abandoned the plan of his predecessor George Osborne to sell the government's remaining 9.1 percent stake in Lloyds.
At the time, market volatility was cited as the reason to cancel the sale.
Hammond said in a statement: "Returning Lloyds to the private sector and recovering all of the cash the taxpayer injected into the bank during the financial crisis is a priority for the government."
"Confirmation that we are no longer the largest shareholder in the bank and that we've now recouped over 18 billion pounds for UK taxpayers is further evidence that we are on track to recover all of the 20 billion pounds injected into the bank during the financial crisis," he added.
Lloyds Banking Group chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, said: "Today's announcement that the UK government is no longer our largest shareholder is a key milestone in the journey of Lloyds Banking Group back to full private ownership, returning taxpayers' money at a profit."
The UK government has been selling its stake in Lloyds in stages since 2013. However, it still holds the majority stake in RBS, the other major high street bank it bailed out at the height of the financial crisis.
The U.S. investment firm BlackRock is now the largest stakeholder in Lloyds. (1 pound = 1.22 U.S. dollars)
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