The US credit ratings agency downgraded numerous entities linked to euro area countries Tuesday night and Monday morning. These include several insurance companies--typically large holders of government debt--across Europe, as well as state-backed infrastructure firms, such as the Dutch and French railway companies and Dublin and Paris airport operators.

The move comes after S&P lowered the credit scores of nine euro area states last week, saying it was not impressed by the recent fiscal actions of European leaders.

Since the creditworthiness of its financial backers has been lowered, the infrastructure and insurance firms’ own credit risk has increased, the agency reasoned.

Europe’s bailout fund, the Luxembourg-based European Financial Stability Facility, also backed by euro zone governments, had its AAA rating downgraded one notch by S&P on Monday. Nevertheless the EFSF sold more than a billion and a half euro worth of six-month bills the next day, receiving more than four billion euro in bids, the facility said.

The Japanese government alone purchased 120 million euro worth of the notes--eight percent of the total--on Tuesday, according to an official with Japan’s finance ministry who was quoted by Reuters.

That means Tokyo has purchased nearly €3.7 billion--or about 16 percent--of all EFSF debt. Its finance ministry said it would continue to buy future EFSF bonds, despite S&P’s downgrade, the news agency reported.

Luxembourg’s prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, has noted that the other two main ratings agencies, Fitch and Moody’s, have said they do not anticipate downgrading euro government debt in the foreseeable future.