Press Release

SAGE ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER 2001 DISTRIBUTION

SAGE is pleased to announce that a distribution of $0.30 per trust unit will be payable on April 27, 2001 to unitholders of record on March 30, 2001. This represents an increase of $0.01 per trust unit over the $0.29 distribution paid quarterly in 2000. This equates to an annualized yield of 10.3% based on a unit market price of $11.70. We anticipate that distributions will continue at this level for the year 2001.

Unitholders of SAGE can acquire additional units by participating in the Distribution Reinvestment Plan. The Plan enables unitholders to reinvest their quarterly distributions in additional units of SAGE thereby achieving the benefit of compounding returns. In order to take advantage of the Plan, unitholders should contact their investment advisor or Middlefield.

SAGE trades on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "BBB.UN".

For further information visit our website at www.middlefield.com or contact the undersigned:

Nancy Tham
Vice President
(416) 362-0714, Ext. 277

March 21, 2001

This press release contains forward-looking information. Actual future results may differ materially. The risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results are described in SAGE’s annual report to unitholders and other documents filed with regulatory authorities.