“At the moment, given the level of poor sentiment, we can pick up world-class businesses at pretty attractive prices that are still growing earnings despite the headwinds that the economy is facing.” Few have weathered the region’s recent downturn as well as Maple-Brown Abbott’s Asian equities division. The boutique’s two-decade-old Asian (ex-Japan) Equities Trust, now headed by Main, is sitting on an 18 per cent one-year return, against its benchmark’s 10 per cent. Perhaps more impressively, given the substantial index losses, the fund has returned 9.7 per cent over the past three years. That compares with a measly 2.5 per…