  We report on interferometric imaging of the CO J=1--0 and J=3--2 line
emission from the controversial QSO/galaxy pair HE 0450--2958. {\it The
detected CO J=1--0 line emission is found associated with the disturbed
companion galaxy not the luminous QSO,} and implies $\rm M_{gal}(H_2)\sim
(1-2)\times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$, which is $\ga 30% $ of the dynamical mass in
its CO-luminous region. Fueled by this large gas reservoir this galaxy is the
site of an intense starburst with $\rm SFR\sim 370 M_{\odot} yr^{-1}$, placing
it firmly on the upper gas-rich/star-forming end of Ultra Luminous Infrared
Galaxies (ULIRGs, $\rm L_{IR}>10^{12} L_{\odot}$). This makes HE 0450--2958 the
first case of extreme starburst and powerful QSO activity, intimately linked
(triggered by a strong interaction) but not coincident. The lack of CO emission
towards the QSO itself renews the controversy regarding its host galaxy by
making a gas-rich spiral (the typical host of Narrow Line Seyfert~1 AGNs) less
likely. Finally, given that HE 0450--2958 and similar IR-warm QSOs are
considered typical ULIRG$\to $(optically bright QSO) transition candidates, our
results raise the possibility that some may simply be {\it gas-rich/gas-poor
(e.g. spiral/elliptical) galaxy interactions} which ``activate'' an optically
bright unobscured QSO in the gas-poor galaxy, and a starburst in the gas-rich
one. We argue that such interactions may have gone largely unnoticed even in
the local Universe because the combination of tools necessary to disentagle the
progenitors (high resolution and S/N optical {\it and} CO imaging) became
available only recently.
