(Adds share price and analyst comment)

* Worldline shares rise

* Deal expected to close in H2 2022

* Deal worth potentially 2.3 bln euros

* Worldline: TSS sale will help cut debt

* UBS and BNP Paribas advising Worldline

* HSBC, Barclays, SocGen advising Apollo

PARIS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - French payments company Worldline has entered exclusive talks to sell its TSS terminals business to U.S. firm Apollo Funds in a deal potentially worth around 2.3 billion euros ($2.6 billion), lifting Worldline's shares.

Analysts welcomed the sale, which investment bank JP Morgan said represented a higher-than-expected value for TSS.

The deal would comprise a 1.7 billion euros upfront consideration as well as preferred shares that could reach up to 0.9 billion euros in value depending on how TSS does in future.

Worldline's shares rose 3.5% in early trading.

The financial technology and payments sectors have witnessed several big takeover deals in recent years as the growing use of smartphones for online payments has sparked competition to develop new systems, often requiring large investments.

Worldline, which bought French rival Ingenico in 2020 in a 7.8 billion euros deal, said the sale of TSS to Apollo would help cut its debt and simplify its corporate structure.

($1 = 0.8789 euros) (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)