Vocus Group chief executive Kevin Russell has blamed the collapse of takeover talks with Swedish private equity investor EQT on the mammoth turnaround task facing the company, a legacy of the disastrous merger with M2 in 2016.

But he expressed no regret for the failure of the talks, calling the $3.3 billion offer a "distraction", and insisting he was making slow but steady progress in his efforts to turn the company's fortunes around.