Made in the same factory as those Gibson-Epiphones, mate. My mates a guitar dealer and says it all comes out the same place. It would be a £1200 guitar if it had one of Those names on the headstock, if you follow?
Your mate is mistaken. Gibson owns two factories in Qingdao, they make nothing but Epis. If Wikipedia is correct, Harley Bentons are made in about 20 different factories in China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Gibson does contract out a few Epi models to other factories.