I believe Findlays is at this stage disputing even the first...

I believe Findlays is at this stage disputing even the first stage of funding. From Findlay's perspective this would be a massive loss making venture and thus they will fight it tooth and nail. This is not a problem faced only by Findlays and FAS - but one faced by all speculative companies attempting to access equity markets in bearish conditions.

In my opinion FAS will struggle to raise funding to complete the takeover. From their perspective they may find it better to ease off for now. What they will need to do is convince Doutch to actually hand over his GWR shares so that they can convert the whole relevant interest into an asset on their balance sheet. Once they can do that there is a higher chance that the market will value FAS in relation to the value of their GWR holding.

From both company's perspectives then the aim would be to progress the project as quickly and smoothly as possible - GWR for obvious reasons and FAS to bolster their share price and ability to obtain funding.

I would assume that the takeover attempt would continue at a later date should FAS be in a stronger position. This would probably only occur if they managed to find something substantive on their own accord.

This is purely speculation and no doubt advisors of both companies will be frantically assessing their options at this stage.