Britain earned £3.2 billion from selling six percent of Lloyds Banking Group, it said Tuesday, setting the part-nationalised lender on course for a full return to the private sector. The coalition government had on Monday launched plans to sell part of its stake in bailed-out LBG following a recent upturn in the bank\'s fortunes. UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the state\'s bank holdings, said about £3.211 billion ($5.12 billion, 3.83 billion euros) was earned from the sale of about 4.3 billion LBG shares at 75 pence each to institutional investors. The banking giant was rescued at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis with £20 billion of taxpayers\' cash. LBG shares finished down 3.50 percent at 74.65 pence in Tuesday trading on London\'s benchmark FTSE 100 index, which closed 0.80 percent lower at 6,570.17 points. The government said the sale would allow it to reduce national debt by £586 million, adding that it was a key sign of Britain\'s recovering economy. \"This is another step in the long journey in putting right what went so badly wrong in the British economy, it\'s another step in repairing the banks, it\'s another step in getting the money back for the taxpayer,\" finance minister George Osborne said. He added: \"You have had investors from around the world investing in a British bank, and I think that is a sign that the British economy is turning a corner.\" Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron\'s Conservative party, authorised Monday\'s part sale. It comes after LBG, whose chief executive is Portuguese national Antonio Horta-Osorio, revealed in August that it had bounced into profit and was looking to resume shareholder dividend payments. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government\'s stake in LBG has meanwhile dropped to about 32.7 percent from 38.7 percent.