BOSTON (Reuters) ? Tyco International Ltd.?s Chief Executive Ed Breen will not leave the company to fill the CEO vacancy at Hewlett-Packard Co., the manufacturing conglomerate said.

Financial services firm Ryan, Beck and Co. released an options newsletter, saying there were rumours circulating that Breen would leave to take the top job at HP. ?Ed is not going anywhere,? said Tyco spokeswoman Sheri Woodruff, who had heard the speculation about a possible departure.

Breen, a former Motorola Inc. executive, is credited with turning Tyco around after two of its former executives were charged with looting the company of $600 million.

Rumours of his departure pushed the share down more than two percent in morning trading, before closing down 21 cents at $33.55 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Under Breen, Tyco has seen a sharp improvement in earnings, a large reduction in debt and an increase in cash flow, which has been used to boost the company?s dividend. Tyco?s shares have nearly tripled in value since he joined the company in July 2002.

?Ed Breen was definitely the catalyst for the turnaround. He deserves all the credit, but the bottom line is that Tyco has some very strong businesses now,? said Eric Landry, an analyst at Morningstar.

HP?s board on Wednesday ousted Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, prompting speculation about who might replace her.

Hewlett-Packard declined to comment on the Breen rumours.

?Any time you are getting speculation about any kind of executive change in light of the recent Hewlett-Packard news, it will inevitably flow into the options market,? said Tim Biggam, chief options specialist at Man Financial.

Tyco options were unusually active Thursday on the speculation, with particularly heavy trading in puts, which give the holder the right to sell the stock at a predetermined price before a set date in the future.

Puts are used to lock in profits in the event of a sell-off in the stock. Roughly 9,678 calls and 15,383 puts combined changed hands across the US options exchanges, outstripping Wednesday?s total volume of 9,963 contracts and Tuesday?s total of 13,329 contracts, according to market research firm Track Data.