UPDATE 1-Green Plains to buy two VeraSun plants from Agstar

* Green Plains to pay $123.5 mln

* AgStar received interest in remaining VeraSun assets

NEW YORK May 21 (Reuters) - Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc (GPRE.O) said on Thursday that it would pay $123.5 million to buy two ethanol plants from a lender group led by AgStar Financial Services, which picked up the plants from bankrupt VeraSun Energy Corp.

In March the AgStar group bought six ethanol plants for $324 million in VeraSun's bankruptcy auction, with plans to quickly resell them.

Green Plains agreed to buy two plants in Nebraska. The deal will leave the AgStar group with three VeraSun plants. It previously sold a Michigan plant to Carbon Green BioEnergy for an undisclosed price.

AgStar spokesman Jim McKissick said the group has received a fair amount of interest in the remaining plants and hopes to announce sales within 60 days.

He said the plants, located in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa, will most likely go to more than one buyer because of their far-spread locations.

Omaha, Nebraska-based Green Plains said the two plants it is buying will boost its ethanol production capacity by 45 percent to 480 million gallons per year.

The AgStar group is providing Green Plains with debt financing for the deal.

U.S. ethanol producers have struggled, hurt by weak demand for motor fuels and high prices for corn, their main raw material.

Several of the largest U.S. ethanol firms have filed for bankruptcy this year, including VeraSun, Aventine Resources AVRNQ.PK and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX.O).

Earlier this month, U.S. refiner Sunoco Inc (SUN.N) agreed to pay $8.5 million for a Northeast Biofuels LP plant in New York at a bankruptcy auction, according to FTI Consulting, a financial adviser that ran the bankruptcy sale. (Reporting by Michael Erman, Additional reporting by Emily Chasan; editing by John Wallace)