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 $rm SFRsim 370 M_{odot} yr^{-1}$, 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.
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