MINT announces Completion of Merger with SAGE and April 2005 Distribution

TORONTO, April 19 /CNW/ - Middlefield Group is pleased to announce the
successful completion, effective April 18, 2005 (the "Effective Date"), of the
previously announced merger (the "Merger") of MINT Income Fund ("MINT") and
SAGE Income Fund ("SAGE"), with MINT being the continuing trust. As of the
Effective Date, the combined total assets of the continuing trust are
approximately $74 million. The Merger was implemented on a tax deferred
"rollover" basis. Unitholders of SAGE are not required to take any action in
order to be recognized as a unitholder of MINT and to be in a position to
trade units of MINT on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Each SAGE unit held by SAGE
unitholders was automatically exchanged for 1.79391453 units of the continuing
trust. This exchange ratio was based on the relative net asset values of MINT
and SAGE as at the close of trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 15,
2005 which were $11.76 per unit and $21.10 per unit, respectively. Unitholders
of MINT are also not required to take any action as they will automatically
continue as unitholders of the continuing trust with each unit of MINT equal
to one unit of the continuing trust.
Middlefield Group is also pleased to announce that a distribution of
$0.10 per trust unit will be payable on May 13, 2005 to MINT Income Fund
unitholders of record on April 30, 2005. This represents a 43% increase over
the distributions paid previously and reflects the anticipated benefits of the
Merger. MINT's total return for the one year ending February 28, 2005, based
on its net asset value, was 31.6%.
The asset class weightings for the MINT Investment Portfolio as at
March 31, 2005 were:

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Asset Class                                          Portfolio Weighting
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Business Trusts                                              39.9%
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Oil and Gas Royalty Trusts                                   22.1%
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Real Estate Investment Trusts                                21.9%
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Power and Pipeline Trusts                                    13.6%
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Cash                                                          2.5%
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The Fund's Distribution Reinvestment Plan allows unitholders to
automatically reinvest monthly distributions in additional units of the Fund.
This feature provides unitholders with an excellent opportunity to benefit
from compounding by investing distributions at a high reinvestment rate.
Please contact your investment advisor or Middlefield to enroll in the Plan.
The trust units of MINT trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the
symbol MID.UN.

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 MINT's annual report to
unitholders and other documents filed with regulatory authorities.

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