SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT 1999
For the period ending June 30, 1999

Press Release

SAGE ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

SAGE High Yield Debt Trust ("SAGE") is pleased to announce its unaudited financial results for the six months ended June 30, 1999, the details of which are attached.

On June 22, SAGE announced its second quarter distribution of $0.28 per unit, payable on July 29, 1999 to unitholders of record on June 30, 1999. As anticipated, the distribution rate remained unchanged from last quarter and is expected to remain at this rate for the balance of 1999. On an annualized basis this represents a yield of approximately 9% on the current market price of $12.25 per unit.

For the second quarter of 1999, SAGE posted a total return of 1.1% compared to the SCM Canadian High Yield Bond Index total return of 0.2% for the same period. Year-to-date, SAGE has outperformed the SCM Index by 3.8% with a total return of 6.0%. The Trust's performance over the SCM benchmark was largely attributable to asset allocation decisions which positioned it to benefit from both equity and bond price appreciation.

We have recently been increasing SAGE's weighting in the real estate sector, which offers excellent value at current prices. SAGE has continued to build its position in Avista REIT, and has added Canadian Apartment Properties REIT ("CAP REIT") to its portfolio. CAP REIT, a residential property trust, offers an attractive yield, modest risk and good growth potential.

On June 9, SAGE announced the renewal of its normal course issuer bid which will enable it to purchase, through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange, up to 160,586 units over the next 12 months. Such purchases will be made only when they are accretive to remaining unitholders.

The Year 2000 Issue arises because many computerized systems use two digits rather than four to identify a year. Date sensitive systems may recognize the year 2000 as 1900 or some other date, resulting in errors when information using 2000 dates is processed. The manager of the Trust is one of the Middlefield group of companies ("Middlefield"). Middlefield formed a committee which assessed the impact of the Year 2000 date change issue on operations, and based on that assessment, developed a plan encompassing problem item updates, replacements and Year 2000 compliance testing. The plan also addresses contingency arrangements in the event that items are not compliant by target dates. Costs to the Trust associated with addressing the Year 2000 problem are not material and are being expensed. Currently, remediation plans, including testing and implementation, are being carried out and are expected to be completed in the fall of this year. Critical systems have been determined to be compliant. The potential impact of suppliers or other third parties not being compliant could range from inconvenience to the use of alternates. To alleviate some of the concerns over the Year 2000 Issue, we will print a Statement of Account as at November 30, 1999 for each unitholder. This statement will be mailed in early December and should be received by unitholders well before the 1999 year end. This statement will show each unitholder's investment in the Trust and a copy will be retained in our offices. Any unitholder that holds SAGE in their brokerage account should receive a statement directly from their broker and not from the Trust.

SAGE is a closed-end investment trust that invests primarily in high yield corporate debt supplemented by high yield equity securities such as income funds and REITs. 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.

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

For further information, contact Nancy Tham or the undersigned:

Mr. J. Dennis Dunlop
Senior Vice President

August 25, 1999

TRUST PROFILE

SAGE High Yield Debt Trust closed its initial public offering in October 1997. The primary objective of the Trust is to provide unitholders with a high level of sustainable income while preserving capital. To achieve this objective, SAGE invests primarily in high yield debt securities supplemented with high yield equities. 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. SAGE is fully RRSP eligible.