  We present optical V and i-band light curves of the gravitationally lensed
BAL quasar HE2149-2745. The data, obtained with the 1.5m Danish Telescope
(ESO-La Silla) between October 1998 and December 2000, are the first from a
long-term project aimed at monitoring selected lensed quasars in the Southern
Hemisphere. A time delay of 103+/-12 days is determined from the light curves.
In addition, VLT/FORS1 spectra of HE2149-2745 are deconvolved in order to
obtain the spectrum of the faint lensing galaxy, free of any contamination by
the bright nearby two quasar images. By cross-correlating the spectrum with
galaxy-templates we obtain a tentative redshift estimate of z=0.495+/-0.01.
Adopting this redshift, a Omega=0.3, Lambda=0.7 cosmology, and a chosen
analytical lens model, our time-delay measurement yields a Hubble constant of
H_0=66+/-8 km/s/Mpc with an estimated systematic error of +/-3 km/s/Mpc. Using
non-parametric models yields H_0=65+/-8 km/s/Mpc and confirms that the lens
exhibits a very dense/concentrated mass profile.
